Why We Can’t Build Better Cities (ft.Not Just Bikes)

[@PhilosophyTube]

Literally premiering this video in between rehearsals for the movie I'm shooting hahaha what is my life

[@Boiea]

Aha, I honestly can't wait for your movie!❤

[@safuya3105]

Lifestyles of the rich and famous? Ok, so famous? Ok, so famous in a subset of Internet culture?

[@milicaskenderovic1306]

Amazing as always :)) I've already watched it twice on Nebula! P. S. I truly hope you become vegan in the future :)

[@NotJustBikes]

And I'm on a high-speed train in Germany right now. Both of us are very much on-brand today.

[@michaelkotula6727]

@@NotJustBikes Hi JasonOnATrain!

[@DianaAmericaRivero]

Believing that poverty and homelessness are moral failings allows people to continue engaging in the exploitative practices that cause things like poverty and homelessness.

[@LungaMasilela]

Like your comment but I would also add from my point of view atleast poverty and homelessness are systemic issues,they are built within the system.The system being the manner in which we distribute resources among ourselves.

[@The_Real_Black_Jesus]

​​@@LungaMasilela facts. Climate town has a great video about this. "Red-lining" etc.

[@Shoulderutube3]

@@LungaMasilelaand that in itself is a conversation we’ve managed to keep poor people out of. They have no control over their own destinies.

[@weirdblackcat]

@@Shoulderutube3 that's why we need to democratise more of society. Look to Norway and Austria (Vienna), huge chunks of the population (20% in Norway) live in democratically owned housing (housing coops). People there treat their house not like an investment, but a house to live in, and restrict how long (if at all) one can rent out a flat and profit off it. Now apply the same to work, to grocery stores (customers vote) and all sorts of other organisations...

[@Shoulderutube3]

@@weirdblackcat I’ve lost my faith that our government was ever a democracy. If it wasn’t for political reasons Lincoln might not have been motivated to emancipate millions of indentured slaves. Or, would not have been able to convince enough politicians to move with him against the south. Monetary gain is the prime motivator for everything you see before you. They literally don’t care. It’ll blow your mind how selfish these folks are. I’d love to raise children in Sweden or Japan but it’s nothing more than a dream for now.

[@MrDragon7742]

I live in a 15 minute city. I'm no more than 10 minutes walk away from 3 convenience stories, a liquor store, two cafes, a gym, a park, two nature reserves for walking, a pharmacy, a medical centre, a dentist, an optometrist and a physio. There are two supermarkets, multiple restaurants, a library and a school within 15 minutes bike ride. Can confirm it fucking rules.

[@Gian_Valkiri]

i always love 15 minutes cities, here in brasil allmost every capital and metropolitan area is a 15 minute citie

[@ThereIsNoHorseInTheAtlas]

Same, and I live on the side of the not very huge city in Russia, literally near the forest The only thing that is so far away is the CENTRE of the city, you have to ride on a bus for 30-40 minutes there

[@ThereIsNoHorseInTheAtlas]

@rickeyslick45 why are you laughing, was I saying something that confronts the statement above? I only said about my experience, does it really deserves such a rude response?

[@Chameleonradio]

@rickeyslick45 If I could afford to buy a small apartment instead of renting, make sure that I had enough counter-space and could get regular maintenance, I'd be as happy as a clam. Most of the things wrong with apartments are actually things wrong with landlords. As for yards, why would I want a yard? That's just something I have to mow, in a 15-minute city I can simply walk to a park if I need some greenspace.

[@FrostyShadowYT]

@rickeyslick45 I live in a 15-minute city, my house has 3 floors and a small front and back garden with a shed for my bike, almost 170m2 in total. Living in a 15-minute city doesn't mean you need to live in an apartment building.

[@Snapdragon0112]

If I had a nickel for every time affordable housing wasn’t affordable I still couldn’t afford affordable housing.

[@probably-aquarion]

Five years ago I was - after enough relatives died that I had a deposit - looking at a new build near where I was renting. 30% affordable housing. Hurrah, I thought, affordable! Alas, every brick of affordable housing had been bought by the council to make up the deficit in social housing, and the rest.... well, wasn't affordable housing.

[@alliehayes7399]

Being denied for affordable housing because I couldn't afford it was insane

[@thomaskalbfus2005]

The best way to make homes affordable it to grow the economy, create job, and as employers compete for workers they bid wages up so people can afford to buy homes! Now what about those big cities where homes aren't affordable? Well if you are a young person, you are competing with some middle aged person who is living in a rent stabilized apartment, the new guy can't find any rent stabilized apartment. Now the employer can keep hiring those middle aged folks living in rent stabilized apartments, because his costs are low, he will accept low wages, the new guy who comes into the city, has to settle for apartments at market rates and same wage that satisfies the middle aged guy in the rent stabilized apartment is not enough for the new guy to afford his market rate apartment. Now lets say that rent stabilized apartments are no longer stabilized, the landlord raises the middle aged guys rent, and the middle aged guy goes to his employer and asks for a raise so he can afford to pay his market rate rent, and the employer says no, so the middle aged guy looks for a new job out of the area and moves, leaving his original employer without employees because the wages he is willing to pay, suddenly fell below the amount most employees are willing to accept, he finds some homeless people asking for a job, they sleep in a homeless shelter at night or on a park bench, but he doesn't have the qualifications for the job, which is why he is homeless. The employer then has to do one of two things, either raise the wages he offers ad try to pass the additional costs onto his customers, or he moves his business to some place where housing is naturally more affordable and where there are workers who will accept the low wages he wants to pay.

[@jimmy_james0007]

@@thomaskalbfus2005 Sarcasm or is this an Ayn Rand fever dream?

[@SkySong6161]

@@jimmy_james0007 I think it's an Ayn Rand fever dream. I don't think he's figured out that the same investment firm that owns the apartments also owns the companies that are setting the wages.

[@AegixDrakan]

"You and I are not immune to phantasms" gave me chills, and made me go "oh yeah...I remember more than once realizing I was holding an irrational belief and needing unspool a lot of it... It wasn't fun". It'll likely happen again someday. The part that scares me is, how does one rescue someone from a phantasm, when they under no circumstance want to be rescued, and in fact think you're the one who's in one...? :s

[@tealkerberus748]

You kind of can't. It's like trying to make someone stop being addicted to a drug when they don't want to stop. You can take their drug away - stop access to the social media or other materiel feeding the addiction - but you can't stop them believing what they already believe, and they will go back to that stuff as soon as you release them. To stop, first they have to want to stop.

[@AegixDrakan]

@@tealkerberus748Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. :(

[@rep-vile]

Most of the time people exhibit "phantasm" to others out of habit, ego, reputation, status, or even just to piss you off. Meaning they have already realised they were mistaken, and now they're doing damage control, I think it's best to show them you're not judgmental. I think it's rare to have a full-blown phantasm where they can never question themselves. Personally, since I was very young, my parents were always astonished at my honesty because I would admit to being incorrect after realising it right away, now I understand why.

[@Boardwoards]

it's almost like i t's a fucking shitty constricted alternative way to talk about denial? and that denial has like, the trauma cycle worked out to say yeah there's a root problem to address with a genuine solution and not an answer easily twisted to cover up any pointing out the problem.

[@Boardwoards]

@@tealkerberus748 luckily you and everyone else who leaves them the awful other option of serving society or go back to the drugs aren't responsible for their not wanting to stop...did you know rats only hit the feelgood button forever when LOCKED IN A DAMN CAGE WITH NO ACTUAL LIFE TO LIVE AND JUST WALK AWAY FROM IT WHEN GIVEN A NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.

[@SachaRommane]

I don't think I ever considered how priviledged I was to grow up in a 15 minute town. I walked and biked to primary and secondary school, walked to the supermarket, doctors, literally everything I could ever need. I was a 5 minute walk away from the train station (and bus station) which had a high speed rail to London and Birmingham. I could travel almost anywhere I wanted to without a car. Now living in America, the suburbs have hit me like a ten tonne truck, I've never felt so displaced.

[@IndustrialParrot2816]

Yeah I grew up in a Streetcar Suburb in North Seattle where my family lived for about 7 years from a about 2014 to 2021 and my dad when commute by bus and i would Trolleybuses while riding the school bus and Greenlake and the Woodland park zoo where both about within walking distance

[@alenabrunton4812]

God I wish. My high school was a 3 1/2 hour walk from my house using the most direct pedestrian path. Ironically the same route is used for the school's JROTC memorial walk for the Bataan death march.

[@deriktheyellow3565]

Yup, I grew up in a London suburb, and was able to get to most places by bus or tube. I had so much more freedom as a teenager than my cousins who were in a village in Essex, and had to be driven everywhere by there parents, even to secondary school in the nearby town

[@hades_head_empty]

yeah, i'll be honest that the concept of a 15 minute town makes me jealous. it takes an hour to ride the bus to school, a 15 minute car ride in good traffic (30 at most in rush hour)

[@RaunienTheFirst]

That's the thing, "15 minute " is really just "how humans have organised communities since forever until about 60-80 years ago". The village where I spent my early childhood, the small town where I spent my middle childhood, and the large town where I spent my teens and early adulthood, even the city where I live now, have all been more or less walkable. The city less so, and the small town had bad placement of supermarkets, but most places are within an easy walking distance. I walked to school as a small child right up until I got moved to a school in a different town as a teenager (long story). The doctor's has always been a short walk away, schools have always been a short walk away, libraries too. Even a supermarket has sometimes been within walking distance, but even if it's not been, it's a short bus ride away, and there's always small shops just round the corner. The village, being as it was in the middle of nowhere, had terrible transport links (it used to have a train station thank you very much BEECHING), but everywhere else I've lived has been a 5-15 minute walk from a train station. Who wouldn't want to live like that? I don't want to be dependent on a car, I don't want to live in some tarmac hellscape. I want to live in a place where I have easy access to basic medical care, easy access to educational materials and other literature, easy access to public spaces and social venues, easy access to shops for food and other necessities. A "15 minute city" is just "how everyone in Britain, outside of the modern suburb, has always lived their lives" which makes it all the more depressing to see people protesting against it. To see them caught up in this falsehood this *phantasm*, to be so disconnected from reality they've forgotten where they came from.

[@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat]

As someone who went legally blind and near fully blind in 2016,i wish you had added one thing about how car dependency effectively makes anyone who cannot drive disabled. I live in north Texas about half an hour outside dallas and my former home was in a city that was part of a 13 city wide paratransit network (well, I joined around the same time they were adding in a paratransit service that basically just outsourced to lyft but either way) and that paratransit network allowed me to go anywhere within it, no questions asked, for three dollars per trip, all I had to do was call at least 2 hours in advance and give an id number. Despite what people say about cars, i have never felt more free or received more freedom from a government program than i did from that service. My family decided to move out to a smaller town that is about a full hour outside dallas and got rid of it's public transportation system because (actual quote) "not enough people were using it". I have never felt more like I've been under house arrest. My grocery bill alone would be double if my mom didn't take me grocery shopping. My vision is at this point probably ok to legally drive but it still feels extremely unsafe. I am disabled, in effect, because of my city's refusal to fund paratransit. Just so it is clear that I am not alone here, tbe ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is cited as the reason why my old city established the paratransit service in the first place. It is literally created because a lack of transportation is effectively recognized as a disability. A 15 minute city would be literally life changing for me in a way that i cannot put into words.

[@abbyf7610]

As someone with a degenerative disease thank you so much for this comment 💕 it is society's lack of accessibility that disables us, not an inherent problem/disease we need to solve as individuals.

[@mrpieceofwork]

I live in TX, as well, and currently (I say this, currently, because we have moved 7 times since I came here 10 years ago)... currently we are living within the midst of the oil/gas tank fields and refineries which pepper the outskirts of Houston. There is nothing here but houses, and I have no vehicle (not that I want one... been there, done that), so it's all just a major bummer for me. A "15 minute city" here would be a godsend. Funny, too, as the best place we have been so far WAS very close to being a walkable place (The Woodlands) but OFC that place became to expensive, even for an RN (my sister, who can't seem to settle on one place, much to my dismay)

[@Arafor]

It's not even just the disabeled (I'm not trying to minimize you in any way here, just trying to point out how big of a problem it is); it's the people too young to have a drivers license, it's the people who take medications that disallows them to drive, it's the elderly who can no longer drive safely, it's the people who can't afford to get a license or who's principals won't let them. All these groups adds up to a staggering portion of the population. All of which are isolated and dependent on social connections that can drive them around.

[@alastairleith8612]

sorry to hear your family made that decision with no regard to how it would effect you.

[@thunder____]

I can attest that car dependency can even cause disabilities in the first place (even without a collision). I'm currently recovering from a nerve injury to my arm that occurred in large part as a result of having to drive several cities over to get to occupational therapy to treat a nerve injury in my other arm. That was 9 months ago. If only I had been able to take a bus or train or something to occupational therapy (or, y’know, go to one of the clinics closer to my house, but insurance in the United States is a total nightmare that makes everything more difficult for the sake of making profit for already-rich people), I wouldn't have had to spend the last 9 months of my life able to do nothing but watch KZbin videos. I didn't type this comment, I can't type at all, I had to use voice to text because that's the only way I've been able to put anything into writing. A simple bus line would have completely prevented my injury from becoming bilateral, which in turn would have made my recovery much easier. So my message to anyone who thinks it's acceptable for cars to be the only viable method of transportation is that you aren't safe. Even if you can drive now, it can fuck you over too. Just one of many reasons why we need options, we need the option to walk or to take public transit.

[@NotJustBikes]

Thank you so much for bringing me along on your urbanist adventure, Abi! I'm glad I could get you through the suburbs. I really like how you covered the 15 minute cities conspiracy theory. When this first appeared in Oxford, I researched it quite deeply, and I was really disappointed to find that it had literally nothing to do with urban planning; it was formed entirely out of climate change denialism from the start. In the end, I decided not to make a video about it, because my channel is not about climate change denialism, and I felt that covering the topic at all would just give legitimacy to the false idea that it has anything to do with city or transportation planning. It doesn't. Your philosophical analysis of the broader mechanisms behind these beliefs did the topic much more justice than I would be capable of doing anyway.

[@kepipek6598]

Following you and philosophy tube for years now and yet I never expected this crossover. Good stuff.

[@IlvaLinde]

This is a cross over I never had seen comming. I love you both

[@frankc.357]

Fucking bag of milk. 🤌

[@Simim23]

I show as many people in Houston your video on why this city sucks as possible. Thank you for that. I hope someday HTX gets better public transit and is more pedestrian and cycle accessible 🤘

[@RavenMyBoat]

Hey Jason, could you do a video on Georgism and the Land Value Tax? It does a great job of realigning incentive structures around efficient land use. The single tax and citizens dividend model centers land use around labor and people living rather than land speculation. I think you'll like it.

[@ancientromerefocused8614]

I took a geography class in the U.S. I thought I was going to be bored, but the teacher taught how location affected music trends. The entire class was him covering regions in the U.S. and how location influenced the music of the regions. It was great.

[@mrswhiddleberry]

"Is the countryside cleaner?" well i vividly remember my aunt telling us to stay away from the nearby creek bc it was full of dead cows again. the rural fantasy some ppl have is wild to me tbh

[@Shrrrg]

I love the fresh clean countryside air when the farmers are spraying liquid manure again

[@yamataichul]

The countryside from my country doesn't have sus ppl but unclean lives. You will get muddy no mater what and have some manure to top it off. True hardworking ppl don't sacrifice a minute for relaxation but always work. I'm not praising like a bloody proud US patriot,kind of the opposite. Poverty let's you be a workaholic or be a thief, there's no in between and people who pretend do not count

[@vvitch-mist20]

I don't get how you would think the country is cleaner when the city is impossibly dirty, and we have people go in and out of subways cleaning them daily.

[@fionafox420]

Ahhh yes! The countryside, where you can’t go outside a few days a week because they’re cleaning out the chicken houses. Also don’t forget about the violent addicts that will break into your home, as soon as they find an unlocked door or window. At least that’s how it is here in the states. 😅

[@gemh89]

This reminded me of an old joke told in Scotland: An English gentleman was walking in the Highlands one day, and stopped to drink from a stream. A local man saw him and said, "Excuse me sir, but you dinnae want to be drinkin' fae there, it's aw full of coo pish and deed sheep." And the Englishman coldly replies, "I am an English gentleman, and you will only address me in the King's English!" So the local replies, "I am terribly sorry. I was saying, use two hands and you can get more that way" Know that I love the normal English people- they are perfectly good- it's just their govt that is an abomination unto Nuggan.

[@WildDragon144]

"How do you educate people who refuse to learn?" Dang Abigail out here threatening me with the best time of my life

[@twigcollins8785]

'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.' - Upton Sinclair

[@tonyduncan9852]

By doing what Abigail does, it seems like. But my wife (an ex-science, business, and art teacher) tells me "You cannot put it where it will not go!". I believe her . . .

[@zizzyballuba4373]

you force them in education camps

[@altrag]

@@twigcollins8785 That doesn't really explain it though, not widely. The peddlers of misinformation and disinformation of course make huge profits from doing so, but they aren't really who we're talking about - most of them very well understand that they're selling bullshit. The people we want to understand is those who are buying the bullshit. Not only does their salary not depend on hating trans people or ranting about bollards, very often their salary depends on _not_ doing those things - you're going to lose your job pretty quickly if you start harassing black people or trans people or whoever else while on the clock. Moderate chance you'd even lose your job if you got caught doing such things in public while off the clock as well, depending on who you work for.

[@tonyduncan9852]

It is probably less costly to free them from taxes and pay their bills. Would it actually be more costly than penal colonies* and increased physical law enforcement*? Instead of thinking about increasing confidence and relaxation in that community and the benefits it would receive, we would rather increase fear and distress and financial costs - a blight which would spread across more than that particular section of society. 'Forcing people' and 'Freedom' cannot coexist together. No worries. * every country has a form of it, and it's trending upward.. @alluba4373

[@carlostorres1171]

Re: Rural misconceptions I remember reading a book called “The Fifth Risk” wherein the author dropped the line, “The more rural the American, the more dependent that American is on the federal government to maintain their way of life.”

[@DaughterApollo]

The boys back home ain't gonna like this one I'll tell you what

[@aremea]

Subsidies for food producers are not to keep food producers going, it's to keep down prices of food for consumers. At least here in EU. Build a wall around a major city and see on what side the scratchmarks will form first.

[@keithwinget6521]

@@DaughterApolloYeaahp

[@jurgnobs1308]

@ ok? and? food is not the only thing that matters. the idea that we should all just purely listen to farmers because they provide food is insane. also, subsidied don't really keep the prices down. they mostly increase the profits of large scale farming companies. they help small farmers survive. and they make huge mass production farms extremely profitable. because the farmers don't actually lower the price by nearly as much as what they get from subsidies.

[@TheSnahsnah]

@aremea That's not true, and it's easy to prove, why. If you wanted to lower food prices, you would subsidize food prices. In the supermarket. Bought from anywhere. Subsidizing at the point of production instead is economical nonsense, because it leads to overproduction (the EU destroys megatons of food every year to keep food prices up), misalignment of incentives (because rates are set by the government, they do not reflect consumer prices, e.g. food that uses more land gets more subsidies). Subsidies are there to help the producer. If your goal is anything other than helping the producer, subsidies are an inferior tool for the job.

[@MorganEdgy]

Those people who say that "facts don't care about your feelings" end up talking less about facts and more about their feelings.

[@HackersSun]

I'm one of those people that adopt those phrases And it's a fact that corporations PRICE GOUGE apartments! The fuckers charge for my same model above me for $2300 for a 1 bed I got in a special deal and mine is $1000 less a month It's insane

[@MorganEdgy]

@@HackersSun I don't live in Europe, I pay about 1/10th of that and can barely afford it. suffice to say, I'd die

[@purpleghost106]

@@HackersSun The reason the phrase is best reserved for sarcastic statements is because it's from B. Shapiro, and he pretty much exclusively deals in feelings. He doesn't understand facts, he yells about them being impossible or not matching his (imaginary) reality. He's a fantasm pusher. And, he'd probably tell you that your rent is your fault for instance, which is obvs ridiculous on the face of it. May I gently suggest that you be more cognizent of where your sayings come from. People who know the source might feel more or less cool with you based on assuming you know where it's from and and functionally endorsing that person's catch phrase. (You don't sound like the kind of person who would actually endorse him. In case you're not familiar at all, he's a rich dishonest podcast-personality who would be more likely to support your shitty landlord than you. Like prima asshat type, and he uses it as a catch phrase purely to try and "win" arguments with bravado and claiming he has facts, without bringing any.)

[@diosamurcielaga9418]

They end up thinking their feelings are facts of reality, not about the inner life

[@SH-bm8yp]

So true.

[@MrDragon7742]

As someone from Sydney, I should probably explain. When it rains the eels like to climb out of the harbour and crawl around all over the place looking for new creeks/ponds/flooded drainage ditches to inhabit. "My pantaloons are full of eels" is just our way of saying it's been raining a lot.

[@leyline_leila]

Wait... people ACTUALLY, genuinely say that? I thought it was just a joke 🤣 That is amazing.

[@annamay6217]

Every day I am given a new reason to fear your continent

[@lorenzodicapo6305]

Eels! -the Mighty Boosh

[@giantred]

Can we give you Florida? I feel like you would get along.

[@ziptink1710]

@@giantred oh come on, we’ve already got Queensland…

[@garrettwaters1726]

Your point about the country being dirty and polluted is so refreshing to hear. I grew up in Seattle but went to Montana for college. I spoke to many folks from smaller places outside of the college town and they spoke of abandoned mines and steel mills on the edge of town and seemingly perfectly healthy teenagers getting cancer and dying at a pretty alarming rate. There is definitely something wrong in many of the rural places in the US and very few people speak of it.

[@jaspern.7702]

Same story of anomalous numbers of dying toddlers in what used to be the farmland around the Brio Superfund site (fka Dixie Oil Processors) around Pearland and Friendswood, Texas.

[@Flashv28]

truly, the land of the free

[@leonineKelter]

Lived in a hicktown in Wisconsin, a village inside of a larger stretch of miles and miles of farmland. Every time they planted new corn, they always laid down manure and the whole town stunk for the next several days of cow shit. It's all over fields, ditches, cars, streets, gutters, cow shit is everywhere, and then it's in the air for days on end. It's horrid

[@ponivi]

yeah, not even mentioning the lead poisoning crisis that primarily hit rural american living

[@GeseppiOoodblast]

Not gonna lie this man loves that smell. ​@@leonineKelter

[@Max_Ivanov_Pro]

Growing up in rural America, I can confirm it's not the fantasy people imagine. Ambulance 45 minutes away, groceries half an hour drive. It's tough.

[@VuotoPneumaNN]

Don’t worry, people do not imagine anything better.

[@leonineKelter]

Stinks of cow shit too. My friends also had their neighbors constantly killing their cats

[@fitz7231]

To be quite honest - I live about 7 miles from a city in the UK and it's the same here. In fact, When I lived in the middle of a big city, the uni security told me to keep ringing 999 over and over - because they wouldn't send an ambulance for hours unless I did. Supermarket is 20 minutes away though, so there's that.

[@tortellinifettuccine]

In my experience no one imagines a fantasy, when people that have never been to America think of America they think new york. When they actually go to the usa, they think parking and more parking, because that's all it is. Anyways that's just MY perspective as a European that had to move to the usa for a year for my job, but I'm sure you're right and plenty of people do think that mostly coming from poorer countries, and then they get trapped here and can't even leave without bring legally banned from returning. It's quite mixed up, and it's crazy all that money is there but none of it is going to make the country run even a little more smooth.

[@tortellinifettuccine]

​@fitz7231 it's not the same I assure you, yes the uk definitely isn't great by euopean standards but it's miles ahead of anywhere in North America. You still have train acess to almost every single city and tiny village in the country, you still have bus acess and late night bus acess, you have mixed density meaning stores and residential are mixed or close together even in rural areas, etc. Of course distances are going to be the same, that's just how driving somewhere rural works, you can only drive so fast. The difference is you have options or at least most people in your society do...everyone in the usa needs cars, even in a city like New york around 40% of people drive if you include uber and taxi, etc. Because in the usa even if you are in an area with good transit, there is not good or any transit connecting it with something outside your area.

[@escalisation3967]

I need to admit that I just cried some actual happy tears when you introduced Jason. You two are two of my favorite online people and I wrote my master's thesis on cultural aspects of mobility transformation and am working in that field now so in a way I've been waiting for this mash up to happen and I'm so thankful you two came together on this. Now back to enjoying the essay I feel you've prepared for exactly me :*

[@ichbinschwul187]

there are times when i realize how absolutely insane it is that simple housing is more of a luxury than owning a car, and how society has developed to accept that as an unchangeable fact.

[@joelra3702]

Never heard anyone put it like that before and you're absolutely right. Damn!

[@EtherFox]

It's not more of a luxury, it's just more expensive. Mandating luxuries into the cost of a thing that costs a significant amount of resources to build only makes it more expensive. LibsRrere

[@joker6solitaire]

I was led to this video from subscribing to channels like Not Just Bikes. I have a master's degree in urban planning, and I must say you've read all the great books! I commend you on your research, your theatricality, your comedic timing, and your hilarious captions. You've made a subscriber out of me.

[@AnthTheHistorian-ov8lh]

So many references in my PhD thesis came from watching this channel and thinking "interesting! I think that applies to my seemingly unrelated thesis!"

[@toppersundquist]

"Unless homeless people are a kind of........ dirt." This so accurately describes how LITERALLY EVERYONE describes the town I live in.

[@PeachNEPTR]

I guess I think a lot of us in America kind of implicitly understand that homelessness tends to create a kind of filth, as the video says. It’s not that homeless people are themselves filth, but that homelessness causes it to occur. The problem is not the people but the situation they’ve been put in. Much like a poor neighborhood is often dirtier than a wealthy neighborhood. It’s not the fault of the poor people, it’s the awful situation. So I think in this case the language used to talk about it is maybe clunky or imprecise. To say “our city has systemic problems which cause filth to occur” isn’t radically different from “there’s a homelessness problem” in this context.

[@PlatinumPangolin]

Her interpretation of the comment is so disingenuous to the point of teetering on dishonest. They're obviously implying a relationship between waste generated by the homeless people and not the people themselves. Her "she should have said instead" version uses phrasing that no one actually uses in casual conversation. She's being deliberately obtuse to make a point.

[@trancendental5373]

She says you shouldn't fear homeless people. Ok lady you go down to skid row with the fentanyl addicts and super tuberculosis.

[@Coralem]

@EPTR I think in addition to the imprecision, the language we use creates our reality. The more we use that shorthand, the more we close the gaps in our own minds between "homeless" and "dirty." Eventually, we mentally skip the steps between and directly associate homeless people with dirt. It doesn't come from a malicious place, and the best way to fight against it is to be more intentional in our language. It might feel tedious, but what's some tediousness to remembering the humanity of others?

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

@PlatinumPangolin Answering "we have homeless issue" to a question "is your city dirty?" means that you have this connection in your mind between "dirt" and "homelessness". It's not inherently false - especially in the USA both are inherently interconnected. I personally think about things like graffiti. It's not because I'm some kind of advanced leftist without biases - just my experience with the homeless is different. I associate them more with bad smell, sickness and addiction (+potentially other mental illnesses). I don't have homeless camps in my city park The issue is that the language we use influences the way we think and act. If homeless people are a part of city's dirt then you have to get rid of them if you want a clean city Obviously it doesn't mean that the lib friend is going to shoot those people but she might more likely to support policies which treat the homeless as an issue rather than homelessness

[@JeraWizard]

I keep coming back to the concept of the prism, in my daily thoughts. Like the yellow car phenomenon, I'm seeing it everywhere! I'm fascinated. It's been helping me in therapy too, as I figure out how to combat anxiety. When you're new at driving, you're acutely aware of how large, fast, and heavy a car is, and how inherently dangerous that makes the act of driving. This persists until you build the prism for yourself, through experience and some amount of "forgetting" that your car is large, fast, and heavy. Thanks Abigail!

[@SincerelyFromStephen]

I’m from western Pennsylvania and there’s a place called Cranberry Township, and my dad always tells me that just 20ish years ago, it was all woods and untouched nature. Now it’s highways and strip malls with sprawling low density housing that has destroyed all of the untouched nature. And it keeps expanding and eating up more of the woods

[@Bokatisha1234]

I'm eastern and it's incredibly similar here. If you want a nice drive in the country, you have to go by the mushroom farms owned by bored billionaires, run by badly paid migrant workers. It's dystopian.

[@RedSpade37]

The same Cranberry Township that's really close to Pittsburgh? If so, I remember how it used to be, years and years ago. I'm sad to hear that it's changed and not for the better.

[@biguattipoptropica]

I get what you mean but all of America was terraformed millennia ago by the people who live there so “untouched” is misleading. Just “forest” is descriptive enough.

[@MrTaxiRob]

...and the city is full of vacant buildings slowly crumbling. Sometimes I think it really is a conspiracy to keep the construction industry going.

[@MrTaxiRob]

@@biguattipoptropica the First Nations didn't build hydroelectric dams. To say that people who lived off the land in a very literal sense were "terraforming" it is well beyond misleading.

[@bomberfox5232]

As a suburbanite, I can recall just how tough it was to get public transportation to go near where I live because suburbanites kept voting no.

[@RoCK3rAD]

Why not move to the city?

[@mr.rainc0at614]

@@RoCK3rAD I would start rambling about how people can't just 'decide' one day to move to a new place and be done with it, but I trust you to figure it out on your own.

[@IdgaradLyracant]

As a suburbanite I remember when they finally did and our local police had to deal with fallout of giving criminals free access to pillage the 'countryside' so to speak.

[@RoCK3rAD]

@@mr.rainc0at614 suburbanites usually can in my experience they have more money and assets than inner city families at least here in New York

[@psychicbyinternet]

I have public transport in my area but the buses only run every hour until about 9 pm and none run on Sundays and they are often late so unless you take an earlier bus and get to work 1 hour early, you can't use them to get to and from work. You have to bike or walk and a lot of the time that could take 30-60 minutes, depending where you want to go. You either buy a car, take a taxi/uber (which is really expensive) or add 30-90 minutes to your commute.

[@hypno__..zzzZZz]

I grew up in the rural United States, when I was 19 and living above someone’s garage in a mountain suburb/golf course my car broke down. I started commuting on my skateboard and the amount of harassment I got from drivers was Insane, not to mention the commute into the nearest (tourist) town was thirty minutes downhill and an hour uphill when it had been five minutes via car. The amount of times I got kicked out of a parking lot that was empty (and that I paid county taxes for) because I was “causing trouble” for practicing tricks and playing music from a quiet speaker nearby were aggravating and often (this was 2021-22 btw). Rural suburban areas suck so much when you’re poor and the people’s hostility toward you does not help in the slightest.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

The weird cultural aversion to skateboarding is such a strange phenomenon in itself. I wonder how much car-centrism has to do with it, or if it's just the expected fear of youths.

[@judeseibel5909]

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721I think it’s the same thing with bringing a backpack into a store vs bringing like a tote bag or something. One is way more likely to attract the attention of an employee thinking you could steal stuff even though both are equally capable of doing so.

[@joshl6275]

@ntcosmicpenguin8721 It's all part of a deliberate structuring of society to "discipline" the working class. We don't see it because we grew up inside it. But if you understand the historical context, a lot of our infrastructure and institutions were set up to ensure that everyone is a good little worker who behaves themselves during the day, and in their off hours, become good little consumers who do as they're expected. Anyone who is miscreant enough to become an outlier to this model, such as the poor, or minorities, malcontent free spirits, or roving youths, are literally policed by the cops. And it should be known that municipal police forces were only established in most places in the past century or so, and almost always the purpose was literally and quite expressly to keep the working class in line, as per the preferences of the wealthy. The reason people don't feel comfortable "loitering" and being social with people around us is because we are afraid to do so. Why is that? What control systems and social conditioning methods have been used on us so we literally feel some combination of fear, shame, and enmity towards our fellow man for wanting to express the natural human impulse to congregate and socialize freely in public spaces? A big part of it is most of those public spaces aren't really public. They are "private property." But that's actually a form of violence that has been codified into law and therefore violently enforced by agents of the state known as "peace officers." Hence the fear. And anyone with the audacity to want to follow a different path is scorned and belittled, or written off as a naive youth, or if they never "grow out of it" then they are just called a bum. We are told our entire lives that we live in a free society. Which is a farcical lie, if we are being honest. It's only free in a very relative sense. And obviously, compared to ancient Rome or feudal Europe, it's a big step up. But that doesn't mean it isn't authoritarian. Like, it's a democratic republic by and for rich people. That's not the same thing as "liberty and freedom for all." The whole "by the people, for the people, of the people" is literally just nationalist propaganda promoted by the elites who own American society, to make the rest of us think we are part of something special, so that we will literally sacrifice our lives to protect a social hierarchy that we sit towards the bottom end of. But as George Carlin said, "It's a club, and you and I aren't in it. It's called the American Dream for a reason--because you'd have to be asleep to believe in it." The Matrix movies are generally seen as a far fetched, outlandish dystopian scifi. It's really just an allegory for the society we live in today. Yes, maybe we're not plugged into cybernetic tubes being harvested by machines in some messed up simulation, but we are living in a prison that's all around us, and has been tailor made to exploit us, fool us, and subjugate us for a nefarious agenda, and we aren't even aware of it because it is in literally everything you see, touch, taste, smell, think, and feel.

[@Maximilian1990]

@@joshl6275 get a job dork

[@eddyst4955]

​@@joshl6275ummm okay, that's called social conditioning and every single society in human history has been doing it under one shape or another. It's a survival mechanism to ensure the working of society and the survival of the group, basically you give up a bit and we all get to live better, as for the consumer aspect, humans have always been consumers, we hunted to consume the prey, we worked to consume the money we make on food and the food for survival, and today it's not very different, that's why capitalism still works (that and the kind intervention of the CIA and MI6) while socialism fascism and other more autocratic regimes unavoidably failed, because it played into basic human behaviour. As for the american dream, yeah that is dead, although arguably that primarily happened because of a lack of government and public control and intervention over the private enterprises. The US had its "American Dream" phase around the same period in which the government had a relatively strong grip over its corporations, and imposed measures that allowed people to live a decent life, that started eroding away after Reagan who gave more leeway to companies, and finally died after '08 when the market started becoming increasingly more speculative and "asset driven" instead of cash driven (think VC funds and Silicon Valley or Wall Street and scams like Theranos, WeWork, or Nikola) thus increasing the prices on all assets such as gold, real estate, art, even exotic cars and watches. This essentially killed the middle class "american dream" living people. So no, it's not control that killed the middle class and it's conditioning you to all sorts of things, but rather it's the lack thereof

[@daraghegan1267]

Abby's Grindr Profile Names: Serving Country 5:25 Exposed Brick 16:12 Mental Trap 47:50

[@OrangeLove-um4dd]

This is the best chapter time comment on the site

[@sunny.rainbows]

Serving Cuntry* (get it? Because slay)

[@lillith1878]

*cuntry

[@franslair2199]

exposed brick i cackled

[@rubegoldbergguy9909]

it does feel like she lead with the best one, unfortunately

[@00metta00]

"If you want to drive a car, you need a photo licence from the government and a number-plate that can be traced back to you AND modern cars harvest a lot of personal data because they're filled with computers. You know what doesn't do that? FEET!" God, I don't know why, but I love that quote, so funny 😂

[@SenshiSunPower]

I'd say it's a combo of unexpected bluntness and the fact she's comparing the act of driving to the object of feet when one might expect "walking" or "biking".

[@theophanialily9186]

the object of cars ne

[@InexplicableInside]

The size of the heel on the shoe she's holding up also add an extra layer of absurd comedy to the bit.

[@jessjohnson998]

This made me laugh because I've actually gone to anti cop protests on my bike specifically so I could avoid my plates being logged for later ticketing.

[@thomaskalbfus2005]

How about presenting a photo license when you go vote so they can be sure the person voting in your name is you?

[@BluegrassGeek]

I want to say two things about this: 1) I appreciate the closed captions, it makes it much easier for me to track everything and absorb it. 2) The captions for the music transitions are AMAZING and people with captions off are missing out!

[@bethanygreenwood8655]

Yes!!!!

[@Maracchan]

Yes as a deaf i really appreciate the captioning, it really makes the video whole

[@hellnightmer]

I honestly keep the captions on just for the second reason!!!

[@DonMutley]

Yeeees!!

[@charlottemartyr]

Im 26 and I've been homeless 3 times in my life. It's been about 7 years since the last time, but I still have night terrors. I still hate sunrises bc they remind me of having to force myself awake all night to avoid being picked up by the cops. I still distrust help after being refused entrance to the only shelter nearby unless I performed sexual favors. I still hide food and money in squirreled away places bc I had my basic means taken from me so many times... I even have severe intimacy issues bc I was assaulted while I had nowhere to hide, and was unable to get any help either physically (the nearest hospital was 40mi and i had no car) or legally (the cops threatened to arrest me instead and laughed off my claim). It's horrific how homelessness can just be brushed off by most people and even lobbed as a threat by some in power. I can't describe as someone who went through it how much of my life it took away from me, or the horrible things it forced me into to survive. There's a special place in hell for everyone involved in the creation of "hostile architecture".

[@XxJayandTomxX]

I am so sorry you had to live through that.. I work as a Therapist and have served the houseless population before and though it horrified me to hear firsthand of how the system failed them, it allowed me to become a better advocate for topics just like this video

[@LordVarkson]

Get a job and be a part of society then. Not that hard. If you can't contribute why do we owe you comfort, let alone life?

[@chihirostargazer6573]

​​@@LordVarkson So you're one of those ignorant "get a job!" types that has absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Most homeless people worked and something happened to them. Someone close to me in my family was homeless because of PTSD from being in the military... another one had PTSD from being sexually assaulted. So you really should stfu.

[@chihirostargazer6573]

​@@LordVarkson So you're one of those ignorant "get a job!" types that has absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Most homeless people worked and something happened to them. Someone close to me in my family was homeless because of PTSD from being in the military... about one had PTSD from being s*xually assaulted. So you really should be quiet with your judgemental crap.

[@gregoryvn3]

Your real or pretend ignorance, as well as your complete lack of empathy for other people, is sad.

[@aliasfakename3159]

27:51 "The more it costs to hang out, the choosier we get with who to hang out with." This sums up so much. I hung out with a friend once and now we don't hang out at all cuz to get to them, I need to drive which is gas money which makes me reluctant to make plans with them even when I'm lonely.

[@sugar-rice]

I used to live in what I call “rural suburbs” (or “ruburbs” if you’re feeling fancy) which are basically the same thing as normal suburbs except there are more trees, the roads are windy backroads that take even longer to traverse, and the yards are a little bigger. My parents moved us out there because they wanted me to play outside in nature, but while building the house, they cut down all the trees that had a possibility of falling on the house, and put a fence up on the property boundary. Without the trees providing shade, the backyard was a barren desert in the summer. Even when soft clovers sprouted over the dirt in the spring, my mother had them mowed down so that ticks couldn’t live in there, so it was prickly dead stems instead. All of this led to me rarely playing outside, because why would I? It was hot, miserable, boring, and even when I did go outside, if I walked up to the fence, I could see another house a dozen yards that way. There was no nature. My parents recreated the suburbia experience in the middle of nowhere.

[@nerissarowan8119]

I live in a similar sort of area and it’s a common problem. It can also create erosion problems in areas with water flows.

[@xlefty]

Estate lots, McMansions, vast opulence. But loneliness.

[@jeffersonclippership2588]

Americans not recreating suburbia challenge (completely impossible)

[@archdevil7472]

I've lived in rural suburbs too. It's the worst of every world imo. Two hours to get to and from the store but also there's not much nature or freedom to explore

[@BlindErephon]

I remember playing outside when I lived in a truly rural area. It was overrated. Ticks suck, the sun is hot, there's nothing to do. There's no trees, no water, no interesting rocks. Just miles of corn and soybeans or mud. At least you had a neighbor fairly close, the closest building for me was a house across the highway that stood empty for years. The best thing that ever happened was getting a damn Nintendo and finding a wet porno mag in a ditch.

[@phaIIicaIIyimpaired]

I used to grumble a lot about the isolation of the town I grew up in... Because the train to get to the big city for shopping only ran every hour. But looking back, everything actually needed (grocery, doctors, schools) was easily reachable on foot or bike. The older I get the more appreciative I get of german infrastructure (griping about the lateness of trains and buses doesn't take away from their general availability and spread). I don't have a driver's license and have managed perfectly fine for 42 years now.

[@HailTheRegent]

I'm only 27 and I have no interest in getting a car or license for the exact same reason. People say I might regret it when I want to go futher afield, but where I am in England has a fairly robust public transport system.

[@bloodangel13]

Good for you, just hope and pray that the hipsters never come to your town. 'Cause when they come they bring with them the skinny jean then the skinny lattes, then you will new cool and hip properties are being developed to accommodate them and you'll see your rent going up and slowly but surely it'll get more and more expensive to live until you can't afford it anymore.

[@Rei-go4hw]

⁠@@bloodangel13I think you might have missed the point of the video buddy- it isn’t these individual “hipsters” that destroy authenticity in places, but rather larger corporations looking for profit. I definitely don’t think the skinny jean is what brings higher rent

[@trimonmusic]

@@Rei-go4hw "Long ago, the people lived affordably and comfortably. Everything changed when the hipsters attacked." If this quote seems logical to you, please watch the video, I beg of you.

[@Rei-go4hw]

@@trimonmusic I’m… not sure you’ve tagged the right person…

[@OddOctopod]

Re: 15 minute cities TLDR: They told all the students "WE HAVE A MORAL OBLIGATION TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS" I recently completed an architecture degree, and throughout the program, students are constantly using 15 minute cities as an easy gold standard for their urban planning. In our final year we work with a real, major housing developer, on a real neighbourhood development project. 15 minute cities principals get you laughed out of the room when in the actual housing development industry. A significant part of the job is scheduling evictions, zone by zone, as affordable housing is transformed into luxury condos. We weren't allowed to tell the real people living in the real, affordable neighbourhood that we were scheduling their evictions. They told all the students "WE HAVE A MORAL OBLIGATION TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS". I don't know what to do. I don't see a way to change things from the inside. It hurts me deeply. I'm not pursuing a career in architecture anymore.

[@Cnichal]

Fuuuuuuuukkkkk…. That’s depressing as hell. Sorry.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

Obviously it will be government legislation that will force developers to build according to 15 minute city principles. But these same governments are captured by those same developers and the other corporations to enable them all to fulfill their "moral obligation" to their shareholders! Capitalism is a trap.

[@MinesAGuinness]

You are right: you cannot change the system from inside a company that is founded upon a diametrically opposed principle. But, if you still have the passion and want to, I hope you will not give up on your idea. Find a way to seek out exactly what you are looking for - there must, presumably be quite a few other architects who feel the same way - and make your commitment to 15-minute city principles your opening. Of course, you'll get rejected by many companies... but you didn't want to work for them anyway. You'll either find the company that is looking for exactly the sort of person you are to create community-led and supportive developments... or perhaps be able to network with enough like-minded professionals to make that company or a visible campaign group advocating for changes within the industry a reality. There seem to be a number of them writing comments on this very page. Having encountered similar obstacles working a career in education and having made radical decisions to reject certain systemic flaws and adhere to my values, I have confidence that you can live and work according to your ideals. I wish you luck.

[@OddOctopod]

@@MinesAGuinness thanks, I sincerely appreciate this encouragement. I won't be giving up the fight, just still looking for the most effective strategy...

[@homerco213]

Thanks Milton Friedman. You truly were a psycho.

[@moshehim1000]

Hi, I was intrigued when you mentioned that you used to have a hospital, and now you have luxury apartments. A block away from my home there used to be a hospital. A couple of beautiful quaint old buildings, surrounded by more modern, functional, larger and really ugly eye-sores. Then they tore all those ugly buildings down, turned the two pretty buildings into luxury apartments, and built luxury apartment towers, all sorts of private amenities (like a private gym and a swimming pool you can see from the street) and a huge multistory parking garage in the place of the rest. All in an area limited to only 6-story high buildings by zoning rules. Apparently, a very well connected and influential politician was somehow involved in getting an exemption, go figure... The thing is, the hospital didn't close down, we didn't lose it, it just moved away. Now it's one block away from my office, in a much larger complex, with larger and more modern buildings (and way nicer than those ugly ones I mentioned) and room for future growth - some of which is already under new construction. That was fairly recent. But decades ago, there were a couple other small hospitals in my area which did close down. one in the 80's or 90's, merged with another hospital (where I actually worked for a while), so it, to, didn't really go away. The other closed even before that and I can't remember what became of it. Anyway, I'm now full of curiosity, and can't help but wonder what's the story with your hometown hospital.

[@ifonlyiknewblog]

I came to the comment section to see if anyone was asking about the hospital - I also grew up in Newcastle and was born in the old hospital (the RVI) - there is, in fact, a new hospital that was build right behind it, so I don't think it's quite accurate to say "used to be a hospital, now there's luxury flats"

[@moshehim1000]

@@ifonlyiknewblog Thanks.

[@cerumen]

from what I’m reading, the actual hospital being referred to is not the RVI. The RVI still exists as a hospital. I suspect filming at the RVI was either more convenient for production purposes, or an attempt to avoid providing free advertising to the now luxury flats, or a deliberate but harmless blurring of personal information. Services were transferred from the hospital I’m referring to, to other already existing hospitals, but they didn’t build a new one to directly replace it. More to the point - healthcare needs are increasing, not decreasing. Even failure to increase or develop on existing health infrastructure would still represent a decline of health provision in real terms.

[@queerasinfu]

I swear, when Abigail said “Here’s where I tell you what this video is really about…” I blurted out “James Somerton” 😭

[@leress]

☠

[@SLAUGHTERAMA]

I currently live in rural TN. With no car or bicycle I need to use public transit, which in my town means calling the local branch of Human Resources to schedule a pick up time and a pick up time to return home. Last week I needed to go to the DMV to get a state license for my job. That meant waking up early, waiting for them to arrive, getting in the bus, doing my thing and then waiting TWO HOURS for them to cycle back and pick me up again to return home. Also it cost eight dollars. It’s incredibly inconvenient and when I mention urban planning to people in my town, their response is invariably to ‘just get a car’, as if buying a car isn’t a pipe dream for someone who makes $11 an hour with student loans, rent and utilities to consider.

[@bitey-facepuppyguy2038]

Sorry to hear that, it sounds like a drag.

[@porgy29]

For my job I support clients who have disabilities, including helping them find successful employment. One of the biggest hurdles is transportation. You are supposed to work a shift from 9 to 3? well, some days your pick up times might be 8:15am and then 3pm to go home, and other days they will schedule to pick you up at home at 7:00am and then you will have to wait at work until 3:50 to leave, and you may not get you home until 5pm. Also, I hope your boss doesn't want you to be able to come in late or pick up a shift when a coworker calls in sick, because all trips need to be scheduled by 4pm the day before (and for some people its 2 days in advance). And if the driver is late there is nothing you can do about it, but if you are late, after a short window they will leave without you and it can cost you your eligibility.

[@bitey-facepuppyguy2038]

@@porgy29That sounds miserable. It is like one is not considered a full person if they can't drive in North America.

[@georgelaxton]

Also those who can’t drive because of medical reasons or are disabled (and those who find driving terrifying) not to mention the cost of cars (which you already mentioned but holy fuck cars are EXPENSIVE!!!)

[@Maximilian1990]

Damn, sounds like it's time we uproot the entire transportation system of Tennessee just to appease you

[@Iaremoosable]

I know people who live in the Netherlands, who have fallen for the 15 minute city conspiracy, while they have lived in a 15 minute city their entire life 😅

[@RealConstructor]

When you talk about a city, you’re right. Living in a small town, this is not the case. Small towns lose everything because of government policies. Starting with bigger municipalities, small towns losing the town hall and other municipal services, so less jobs, less housing, local shops and only supermarket of town leaving because of less clients, schools closing because of less children, losing restaurants, cafes, hotels, sports clubs, churches etc. It is a non stoppable cascade, leaving a town of commuters going to school and work in other places. A town where people only sleep and eat breakfast and dinner, every other activity is done outside town, mostly only reachable by car, because public transport for small towns is non existent. The countryside is becoming inhabitable over time, looking more like a holiday bungalow park without any services.

[@gmannn-yd8ie]

Most countries in Europe has 15 minute cities everywhere and people who live in them still insist they’re going to ruin or lives. Strange lol.

[@rachelnotluf4585]

That is so depressing.

[@j.a.1721]

​@RealConstructor why are you describing 15 minute cities like they are just a reiteration of american suburbs?

What are you talking about? What conspiracy?

[@chaotic_hungry8049]

I think you would appreciate Mary Douglas’s “Purity and Danger”. She discusses what is dirt, and says that “dirt is simply matter out of place”, meaning that dirt is a function of relationality and perception.

[@1ER20001]

“My…brother.” Very smooth lol. I really appreciate that you still link back to those videos in recent ones. It helps builds a knowledge base within the continuity of your channel. You’re killing it in that crop top flannel too. Yee haw 😊

[@EvillNooB]

what happened to the brother thought? did he just gave away his channel?

[@refrigeratorskator]

​@@EvillNooB I'm pretty sure that's her pre-transition

[@Silverwing28]

This is a collab I didn't expect, but I'm so here for it! As a Dutch person, Not Just Bikes made me proud of our infrastructure. But affordable housing is also a major problem here.

[@sniedendepoes]

Yea, inviting 400,000 refugees in one year was devastating to the housing market

[@Silverwing28]

@@sniedendepoesI'm sorry, but that number is misinformed. That number contains 108.000 refugees from Ukraine, 11.000 refugees from other places of the world. The rest are non-refugee immigrants. 44.000 of which were Dutch citizens who emigrated, coming back to the Netherlands. Next to that, blaming refugees for all of the housing market is . Population growth does mean more houses are needed, but if those houses aren't built it doesn't matter. Also, the economy needs population growth to be healthy. And while I don't think that is a sustainable economic model, it is the current reality. If we wouldn't let any immigrants in at all, we would shrink as a population which means it would harm our economy. (of course, I'm sure this is more nuanced as well. But I don't exactly know the nuances myself) Let us just wait an see what these two incredibly smart creators have to say about the topic.

[@sniedendepoes]

@@Silverwing28 Shit on the economy, historically prole life gets better when there was a population decrease and worse during increase. You’re eating up garbage globohomo corporate propaganda

[@bdarecords_]

@@sniedendepoes You do realize that we have to manage hundreds of millions refugees in the next decades due to climate change, right? This anti-refugee rhetoric won't prevent that fact. It's also that mindset and narrative that ignores that it's not refugees but almost always big companies, the private sector that is to blame.

[@robertchmielecki2580]

Yup, I was so surprised they made a video together! A must watch for me :)

[@hyralt]

I got into Philosophy Tube back when it was presented by Abigail’s “brother,” but it just keeps getting better with each video. This is really thought-provoking, and I can’t wait for the next one. ❤

[@VannMunson]

I'm catching up with this channel after a few months absence, and learning you not only got greenlit but already met a major financial goal on an original film while I was gone is such a treat. I genuinely love to see you flourish like this.

[@LegoCookieDoggie]

11:19 one of my biggest freaking pet peeves a bike route without railings so a car can ram you while you're in the bike lane as they make a shoulder turn

[@TheGrayMysterious]

I once drove down a bike lane in Dallas by mistake because the only thing that distinguished it from every other lane of traffic in the city was a sign that I almost passed too quickly to notice. It was empty thankfully, but it was also clearly just a regular traffic lane they repurposed as a bike lane and not in any way separated from the rest of the road system.

[@Knowarxana]

Not as bad as the cycle lanes in Britain which are on roads that are already too narrow to allow a vehicle to pass safely. I am a cyclist, and a commercial truck driver, and it strikes me as madness when my truck wheels are on both the central white line, AND over I to the cycle lane... It's literally pointless, but as a cyclist, it gives cars the illusion that they can just pass you, within inches, because you're "in a different lane"

[@oddball_the_blue]

@@Knowarxana Having shared a bike lane with a bus I can concur... especially when the buses seemed to be making a point of trying to knock me down with the wingmirrors. Fun times.

[@malta7406]

I don't even think that is a bike lane, I've never seen one here in the States with a guard

[@DreamRealitii]

I live in the US and I've never once seen a bike lane protected from car lanes. How have I never thought of that until now?! (Actually I know it's because I still live with my parents and don't bike or drive.)

[@damenwhelan3236]

32:23 Your compassion has literally brought me to tears. I am.homeless. inlive in an abandoned tram station lost in undergrowth. People dont know im homless. The social care system wants me to go into a shelter. But the violence and drug abuse that goes on there is too great a risk. Ive tried explaining it to the social workers how if youre not a drug user youre a target of theft, of younare a drug user youre a target for abuse by the more violently inclined. So its not safe for anyone. Not just me. Its currently 3C or 37.4f. My place is a comfortable 16c and a small stove glowing is keeping the cold away. I work. I save. I was promised my town woukd be better in the future. I didnt realise i wasnt going to see that better future.

[@TomMinnow]

Was homeless for a time. I'll never take modern comforts for granted ever again. Nothing can scare me anymore after hitting rock bottom and surviving. My heart is with you, I hope you reach out to someone in your life, friends, family or friendly coworker, and tell them your situation. I know I felt ashamed and was terrified at the thought of being a burden, but needing help isn't a weakness, it's human. Much love to you.

[@damenwhelan3236]

@@TomMinnow The thing is though I don't need help I need housing and that's not something a friend can provide. It's not a matter of feeling a burden It is a burden.

[@ΚωνσταντίνοςΚοκολογιαννάκης]

Thank you for sharing your story.

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

​@@damenwhelan3236are homeless shelters the only type of help available where you are? In the UK we do have homeless shelters but they are only the last resort. Most people who are homeless can get placed in temporary accommodation by the council which is more self contained than a homeless shelter. Once you can find a flat you can get financial help to pay the rent. Maybe it's worth persisting with the authorities where you are to get something more suitable for you. I hope you can find something.

[@ChiWillett]

apologies for intruding OP! would like to add to this conversation by pointing out to folks coming to this thread who may not be aware: "the abandoned tram lost in undergrowth" is a really important detail. many places (can only speak to the U.S. in this but I imagine it's the same in MANY other locations) don't permit use of anything considered an "open flame." people may recall media portrayals of homeless folks in an alley huddled around a trash fire for warmth when in reality people get cited/arrested (in one case with Minneapolis police - killed) for this. portable gas stoves and gas heaters are a no-no as they are an "open flame" so you're left with trying to stay warm by other means like sleeping bags, blankets, tent (if at all possible). those things are expensive, including finding a sleeping bag that can withstand temps below 30f (-1c)). and if you're found by cops? they'll tell you to leave and also trash the stuff you have. oh your driver's license was in your tent that was just torn and thrown away? well that sucks, you're not getting that back. so when OP mentions "abandoned tram lost in undergrowth" we shouldn't ignore how HUGE it is that they can use their heat source without having to constantly stress (mostly, I hope) about being harassed for trying to stay warm, which is a constant and regular issue for folks trying to survive (same issue with shelters here in the U.S.). the scope of the homelessness problem is is largely one that goes unseen and ignored by the public and calling it an atrocity doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. local governments are acutely aware of the problem but they just choose to not do anything meaningful about it. they're really okay with people dying in the hot or cold as it's seen as "a problem too big to nip" which is a farce and we shouldn't ever be okay with that.

[@delacreaux]

Genuinely impressed by the setup and payoff of the Grindr profile jokes. Thanks as always for the effort you and the team put into making education entertaining.

[@RubyG3451]

The Grindr profile joke is very similar to the "Title of my sex tape" joke from Jake Peralta on Brooklyn 99.

[@andersledell8643]

As a Seattleite, I have a different take on the homelessnesss anecdote you shared. I was recently asked by a coworker who does not live in Seattle proper if I felt "safe" living in the city. I understood the context of the question that was being askeed as "there are a lot of unhoused people in the city, so have I noticed increased crime or been made to personally feel unsafe by the presence of homlelesss people?" So, I responded acknowledging the unmentioned context, saying it can be distressing to watch someone who is experiencing a mental health crisis or such severe poverty that they are on the street, but they do not make me feel personally unsafe. I see you queer friend's comment in a similar light- she heard someone ask aboutthe cleanliness of Seattle and acknowledged the context that was not mentioned in a way that would not disrespectthe person to whom she was speaking. She acknowledged the phantasm, but I don't think she necesarily thought it to be true just because she recognized and responded to it directly.

[@Boardwoards]

it's almost like asking do you feel safe in a home with an animal abuser knowing that you could get bit... except PT never acknowledges this and buys the abusers narrative

[@danimations1440]

@@Boardwoardsthat assumes that the asker both knows there is a large homeless population in Seattle and is asking because of that - neither of which are suggested

[@Boardwoards]

@@danimations1440 ok and PT still *buys the abusers narrative* instead

[@ANewHuman]

Abigail, the bit starting at 38:50 began like a body blow. My father has disappeared into the QAnon black hole, and has sacrificed everything - his future, his friendships, his family relationships - to replace all of it with a fantasy. I think his decision was born out of a feeling of powerlessness - the feeling that he wasn't in control over his life and a need to look outside himself for reasons why he couldn't make it in life. I think he was right that it wasn't his fault. But he was deeply and tragically misled. My kind and loving father has disappeared, and has been replaced with a hateful, paranoid, racist, bitter man, and my heart has been broken for years over this. Thank you for addressing this. Looking forward to the next episodes.

[@ANewHuman]

What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination? Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks! Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men! Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments! Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb! Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose smoke-stacks and antennae crown the cities! Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the Mind! - Allen Ginsberg, Howl

[@therabbithat]

Check out Steve Hassan's work on cults for tips on how to talk to your father ❤ I hope some day he gets free

[@TreespeakerOfTheLand]

That is terrible and I feel for you. Hopefully you'll find some solace and, maybe, he'll return to his old self someday. Be well, internet stranger.

[@Limes_not_Lemons]

Similar thing here, thankfully my dad lives half way across the country and work stops me from being able to see him more than a few times a year. He's not extremely obnoxious with it or (forgive my wording) "too far gone", you can hold a normal conversation with him on occasion, but he does have a tendency to regress the topic into a weird conspiracy riddled mess. Turning normal daily small talk into "the aliens" or government conspiracies etc. During the covid lockdowns here in the UK he just started watching and listening to all that stuff and it just feels so difficult to connect since then. Especially me being trans and him being a smidge apprehensive while still having that sense of support underneath. It's bloody hard slowly losing connection with someone to something that makes no sense

[@ANewHuman]

Thanks friends - unfortunately his descent began long before covid, and I do believe he is "too far gone". I'm not the only one who believes that - most of my family and many of his friends do as well. All that remains for us is to move through this pain and try to move on. He can't see that all we want is to have our dad back - all he thinks is that he needs desperately to protect himself and his children (a horrible cosmic irony, that), by spending time on the internet spreading awful anti-semitic, queer- and homophobic hatred. This is what he believes the purpose of his life has become. It's a hall of mirrors he will never emerge from. Or at least, I don't hold out much hope for that.

[@IsaacSchlueter]

I appreciate that you put extra little jokes and wit in the subtitles. It's like a treat for those of us that need to read while listening.

[@jasonbates9906]

The subtitles for the bumper music are hilarious.

[@Omar-cw5gg]

Welp here I go rewatching the whole video with subtitles

[@Mene0]

Mate I got bad news for you: she does that every video@@Omar-cw5gg

[@catkittycatcatkittycatcatcat]

@@Omar-cw5gg it was her master plan all along!

[@wmhilton-old]

"[creepy music like oh damn, I was really hoping I was immune to phantasms actually]" 😅😅😅

[@taylordugan1029]

As someone from Seattle, I can explain the thoughts around homelessness a bit. The issue is that there is a concept of "good" and "bad" homeless people, which is pushed by the local news and what we see in the area. The "good" homeless are down on their luck, while the "bad" homeless are drug addicts. They're the people who leave needles in public parks, steal from us, and smoke meth in the bathroom at my work. The state has a general idea of what to do with the "good" homeless, but no clue what to do with the "bad" ones. They're trying to do more than throw money at temporary solutions, but have a hard time getting anywhere. There have been several controversies where the local or state government has tried to convert old hotels into shelters or build treatment facilities, but people freak out when they discover how close those places are to their neighborhoods. We like the idea of making cheap and humane homeless shelters and helping people get treatment, but shudder at the thought of having to see it. Society as a whole sees drug addiction as a moral failure, and not a symptom of mental health problems and life often being difficult to endure. As a result, we cannot fathom the idea that, in another life, we could have been like them. The big problem, in my opinion, that no one in my state is asking the question: "If we can't build shelters and rehabs anywhere near us, then where the hell are they supposed to go?" I think if asked, the answer that a lot of people would give is "away". The general attitude of Washington State is that it doesn't matter what happens to these people, as long as we don't have to look at them. We believe that we aren't "bad" like them, and so we don't have to view them as human like us. (While I'm on the subject, does anyone else live in a city where a piece of anti-homeless architecture is a 4-star rated tourist attraction on TripAdvisor? No? Just me? Cool.)

[@jamesreese4170]

I think her take on homeless are true but also fails to understand the full spectrum of the issue. While homeless are indeed people and should be treated with dignity, many of them do criminal behavior which makes them criminals. Just look what is happening in Portland and San Francisco who have had many businesses close shop both chains and local owned places who have been so affected by the homeless and crimes they commit and yes the filth they bring that they can no longer operate their businesses. Yes this is a problem for everyone. But it's still a big problem. Vandalism and theft is not just done by the homeless, but much of it is. The atmosphere of lawlessness encourages more lawlessness. Hence a group of teens can stroll into a coach store and steal arms full of goods knowing that the worst thing that may happen to them is being filmed and shared on the internet, which is likely more of a badge of honor for these thieves.

[@jayspeidell]

In the Durkan years we were bulldozing the "good" homeless while letting the sketchy spots fester. Nickelsville (a tiny home village with few problems) was bulldozed while Andover Street (rapes, murders, organized burglaries, and a major bike theft ring) was ignored for many years. Protesters and drug users are jailed, but the mentally ill people sucker punching random victims on the sidewalks are ignored (prosecutors beg victims to drop the cases, I know victims). Right outside my office window in Belltown a Honduran Cartel sells fentanyl and meth all day. The cops turn a blind eye to this. They don't even stop dealing when cops pass by. And they're posted up right in front of a women's shelter. Shitting on the street didn't really become a thing until the public restrooms closed. The Seattle situation feels like it makes no sense at all.

[@Zettabyte7]

@@jamesreese4170 This just sounds like fearmongering. I take it you have some reputable sources for such claims?

[@michaelo5665]

​@@Zettabyte7 I do event security in Portland and can attest to his post being a massive exaggeration of what occurred during the epidemic.i agree with the OPs point about the just n9t in my backyard mentality is massively accelerating the issue. Portland and Seattle both get a lot of flack for being sanctuary cities but both cities were having real success lowering their homeless population numbers until it became a political statement to ship other cities homeless here. On the occasions where i had to take statements from homeless people nine out of ten would have out of state ID.

[@stiffjalopy4189]

Yes to all of this, but don’t overlook the influence of our abysmal mental health system. Many ppl living in Seattle’s streets and parks need help that neither jails nor rehab can provide.

[@uniquechannelnames]

On the "sending away" portion at 32:50, the premier of my province (think of them as a governor of a state) gave free one-way bus ride tickets to whomever wanted one, to Vancouver. Now while vancouver is a much more desirable place to be homeless (it can get to -30C or lower at times here), it's still such a scummy move

[@darth0tator]

I just moved from a suburb into the city and it's a bit of a culture shock. Also because I love urban videos I noticed a very bad traffic situation and tried something, which I thought wouldn't work and e-mailed the local government body about the possible introduction of a bus lane on one of the traffic heavy streets and they actually invited me and want to discuss that. That was incredible to me. So people, take action! Contact your representatives! It really works (sometimes)!

[@jaredrevis4594]

I spent a year teaching English in a tiny rural town in Japan. It was actually clean and close to nature, very beautiful. But, it was completely empty of young people apart from the 300ish school-age kids. All my students' older siblings moved to cities like Sendai and Tokyo, and this itself was a problem for me given that I had few peers, but it happened for a reason. Although beautiful, there wasn't much in the way of amenaties for modern youth. For most shopping, that's at least a 20 minute drive if not more. Not much work besides farming or lumber or some small inns for hot springs and skiiing. It was very much "what do I do with my free time?" and "if I weren't here as a contract teacher, what the hell would I do for work here?" If there had been a train station, it would have been a bit more bareable, but there wasn't and the town was spread out. Very car-dependant. Not to mention, while it was clean and beautiful, so were the cities. Plenty of green-space, train networks can get you out to the countryside decently cheap and fast if you wanted more nature. In the end, the cities were just much nicer spaces in terms of living, even just small cities. They have one hell of an urban planning dynamic (now if only they didn't just try and ignore homelessness and hide it from the public)

[@jamalgibson8139]

Yeah, I think we forget that Japan, for all of its amazing rail infrastructure, also has an incredibly powerful car lobby, so it makes sense that more rural parts of Japan would be car dependent. The compromise seems to be that cars would dominate smaller towns and rural areas, while rail would be built out in the bigger cities. The dynamic works as well as it can, but I think Japan would be better off investing in those far flung places too. Unfortunately, with profit being the main driver for rail investment, it's unlikely to really ever happen, unless Japan somehow begins experiencing rapid population growth again.

[@jamjox9922]

The need for overstimulation is an issue we don't want to address, and tend to forget kids WANTING the flash of the city is because they've been stimulated and taught that is what's valuable. However, the bigger issue you present is about lack of belonging, safety, and community--that even for Japan's communal nature, are actually more individualized in true connections and bonds, even in smaller spaces of Japan. When people belong, feel safe, and have community--they will RARELY want to leave. We know this because poorest of the poor from other countries have trouble leaving their tribes, their villages, even when there's better economic opportunities. And those that leave from tight communities, will come back if they don't have those kinds of bonds elsewhere. This is not a Japan only issue, but its a world-wide issue where we've made simple living imposible and unatttractive; too much information has everyone thinking bigger is better, flashier is more fun, and more opportunities means more happiness. More opportunities means better standards of living for many people in the world, realistically; but after certain needs are met, MORE is not the same as More happiness.

[@stariyczedun]

@jamjox9922 you can belong, feel safe and still be bored to death. I lived in a small village, it felt suffocating. I'd have to "lobotomize" myself to keep living there. Small farm chores, same people, same talks, same books in the school library. We didn't have the internet then.

[@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus]

@@stariyczedun I can not imagine voluntarily giving up small town life to move to a city. I've lived in a city in a tower block, on boat at sea, and most levels of density in between, and found that my happiness is generally inversely proportional to the density of people around me.

[@stormveil]

@@jamalgibson8139 That feel when urban planning comes down to a battle between the train lobby and the car lobby.

[@Egg_thing]

that style of intro got so ingrained in my head as the Tom Scott intro that I genuinely needed a second to process

[@sglenny001]

I would actually love Tom Scott and abi to collab

[@EllieK_814]

​@@sglenny001seconded

[@williamjones5334]

@@sglenny001She does have a credit on one of his videos (the one on copyright), so there is that! (It was made before she transitioned, so the in-video credits use her deadname, but he did update it in the description.)

[@sglenny001]

@@williamjones5334 ahh yea I see

[@nullpotential]

@@sglenny001 I have some bad news for you.

[@WaverlyGarner]

Your brother was cool, but like, very glad you took over as narrator 😊 This video was so eye-opening. Thank you so much!

[@ValerieEnriquez]

50:22 As someone who bike commuted and did some advocacy for infrastructure in Boston, this hit pretty hard. So many frustrating City Hall meetings. If I had a drinking game BINGO card for any time people said any number of regurgitated talking points like "cyclists should pay taxes" when cars do much more damage to roads in comparison or "cyclists run red lights" as a justification for why nothing should change to make it actually safer for cyclists to follow the rules/why it's actually ok and normal that yet another cyclist died in a preventable crash, or claims that removing parking spaces will hurt business when every study has proven the contrary... I would have died of alcohol poisoning. Mayor Wu isn't perfect, but I remember at least being excited to vote for her when Marty left.

[@ND-nr6mx]

It's like when I convince myself late at night that sleeping now won't do me any good because I'll still be tired tomorrow so I might as well stay awake another three hours doing nothing important. They’re bitter at the thought of putting effort into making a better world, so they lie to themselves saying that keeping everything miserable is a good thing, actually.

[@MarkkuS]

Cyclists run red lighs about as often as gas pedal pushers. Also the rules of the road are made for cars, bicycles don't need traffic lights.

[@davidwright7193]

From your language I assume you are from North America where there are federal mandates requiring states to legalise cars running red lights in a way that is particularly dangerous to other types of traffic particularly pedestrians and cyclists. Remember you can run over on red so long as you are turning towards the closest pavement.

[@salvadormuro7346]

@@ND-nr6mxnice analogy

[@johnsowerby7182]

Oh God yeah.. never mind that the vast majority of cyclists also own cars, and heaven forbid that you get to your destination 30 seconds later because you had the wait to pass a bike safely ..

[@korndanaiakawat5459]

"you can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep" Phantasm is like that.

[@Kas_Styles]

The only way that might even slightly work is socratic questions, just like she did. Force them to actually criticality think by asking the questions they don't want to ask themselves and be the Guiding force for them. Kind of like be their therapist. Just don't say the word therapy or therapist to them. Just use the same skillset(s) that a therapist would use.

[@MrRobotman]

@@Kas_StylesYes I have a friend who's been doing this with me - asking "Why" to things I hadn't previously asked that with. A lot of it turns out to be because of emotions saying "I don't like this." And then that dictates your next steps... but maybe it's worth questioning the emotions in the first place.

[@MrKingkz]

Its ok to say that but becoming a therapist to friend is very draining and a lot of the time and because they are very emotional you have to talk to them like kids which destroys your friendship your best off cutting ties and finding new friends @@Kas_Styles

[@dadapotok]

​@@Kas_Styles would you kindly share your background for being the Guiding force and "forcing people to actually critically think"? I love being right and the idea of truth too, but i kinda don't believe that human mind can fit reality and fully comprehend complexity and it makes human truth imperfect and political and i'm very curious about how you think and operate in this regard.

[@Kas_Styles]

@dadapotok I mainly use socratic questions. My favorite are, "what makes you think/say that?" And "how so?"

[@SilverDragonJay]

warning: long rant "there are some reasonable arguments against it, but this isn't reality" is so accurate. some investors are hoping to put in a 15 minute city close to where I live and I was actually working for a little bit as a canvasser to gauge local's support of the project. In the process I heard some vary articulate, reasonable concerns over things like "what are they considering 'affordable housing'", "are they _really_ going to put up the capital necessary to make needed infrastructure improvements or are they going to offer a fraction of what is necessary and rely on government grants to fill in the majority?", "Are they really going to follow through or are they going to half build the project, run out of money/realize they won't make a profit, and dip?", "What effect is this new shiny city going to have on the existing, diverse communities?", "Is there going to be enough water for a massively increased population?" etc. I actually had some really good conversations with people like this. A lot of their concerns didn't come out of nowhere but were informed by history. By similar projects promising great things and then either not following through or producing ruinous consequences for the communities (usually poc, immigrant, and other marginalized communities) that were supposed to benefit. People even cited specific examples! But for every reasonably concerned voter I got another who started talking about things like surveillance and government control and "the Chinese". Its like when you're listening to someone and they're pointing out these legitimate problems in things like income inequity and systemic injustice and social isolation and manipulation by people in power. The entire time you're sitting there nodding your head because they haven't said anything wrong...and then out of nowhere they bring "the jews" into it! Like, they're _so_ close, they're heading in the right direction. They're knocking on the door, but then, before they open it, they jump into the bushes, take a dump, and then sprint away like my cat sprints away from her litterbox! Except, unlike my cat, they sprint to the oversized pickup that guzzles gas like I guzzle root beer and has enough surveillance equipment in it to detect every surreptitious fart. Personally, I don't know if I _can_ support the project near me, specifically _because_ it is being funded by private investors. Like the money that they are claiming to be putting towards developing a new city could be used much more effectively towards bettering the existing cities in a way that _doesn't_ displace large swaths of impoverished residents. Instead they just want to build a whole new city...because its easier (ie more profitable) to build a brand new city then it is to just fix an existing one.

[@erinmac4750]

Well said! I love your description of the person almost "getting there," but then veering off course. That cat metaphor will have free space on my mind for a minute.😹 It is SO frustrating that seemingly rational people have been sucked into the most insane nonsense, much of it dangerous to themselves or others. Hopefully we slow or even stop this sooner than later. Ps. There's one of these "utopian" cities being planned, land already bought under suspect circumstances, near where I live. The company is out of Delaware, fronted by some tech bro types, who do unironically use the word "utopia." Flannery LLC is planning develop along Highway 12 from south of Sacramento to Fairfield, a riparian wetlands area that's primarily tuley marsh/lakes and seasonal low-impact grazing. These tech bros ruined the bay area, now they want a go at some of the last remaining Delta wetlands. Coverage of this story has been sparse. I hope the Sierra Club, local tribes, and Travis AFB bring this project to a dead stop.

[@ohpurpled]

​@@erinmac4750‘out of Delaware’ or ‘registered in Delaware’?

[@erinmac4750]

@@ohpurpled Registered in Delaware. The parties in the LLC are from different states and countries. Only a couple have spoke to media.

[@jorgemontero6384]

Because every rebuild is fought tooth and nail by every neighbor, and Anglocentric countries just makes those people be able to block redevelopment better than anywhere else in the world. If a small developer could replace 3 adjacent housies with 5 over 1s by only having to wait for 3 months for paperwork, they'd do it, as the profit would be enormous. Hell, the three neighbors could finance it themselves, and end up with a few flats each.I've lived in coops in Europe that were built exactly that way. But if it takes 3 years to do the licensing, and a neighbor complaining about increased traffic will cause another stupid study, then really, a separate city is better, because we've made rebuilding impossible. The fact that a place like San Francisco is not full of cranes tells us that there must be an insane regulatory problem, because there's so much money in the whole thing getting built high like Madrid

[@dudaseifert]

Yeah, the whole point on 15 minute city is not to build one from the ground up, and simply making our existing cities better. Getting rid of some zoning laws would be a great first step, for example

[@greyforge27]

As an American who lived in England as a student for a couple years before Covid, I have the simple yet distant dream of moving back to the UK exclusively because (actually there are many other reasons) it's possible to not be car-dependent there. The sheer degree to which getting around by walking, and being in a place designed for human beings rather than cars, boosted my mental health was insane I know there are lots of problems with housing/cost of living/politics in the UK, and I try not to imagine it as some perfect place to escape to. I only experienced it as a heavily-subsidized student, and I'm sure it's hard for many people to have decent lives there. But I can't help but keep dreaming of it and craving it all the time, just living in a non-suburbanite town in the UK.

[@washimpatwary1446]

It's very hard if you don't live in a Major city though. You probably lived in London where they have a extensive tube network however most cities in the UK don't have that so having a car is essential especially if you live in the suburbs

[@Majesteriagold]

I spent 6 months in Budapest this past year before coming back to a college town in the US. One of the things I miss most is having a grocery store within 100 feet of my apartment and finding it so easy to explore new places

[@zoushaomenohu]

That's the thing about modern America, isn't it? For all the talk Americans like me make of being explorers and pioneers we're *very* reluctant to actually go out and explore the places we live in and interact with new people. You're expected to just go to work or school, interact with your peers in those highly monitored environments, and then go home and interact with your family, maybe going out to do things or meet people for fun in the limited free time your job gives you, and not venture out of that routine. Kind of like what Abi was talking about the differences between contact and networking. In the suburban neighborhood I live in (with my parents and younger brothers), I can count the number of neighbors I actually know by name on one hand, and I can go for literal YEARS without speaking to them beyond maybe a wave and a noncommittal "Hi!" By contrast, I can consider myself friends with people who live in completely different states or countries that I've met online, because that's where I have more leeway to explore and talk to people who aren't my family or my coworkers! Americans pride themselves on being brave explorers, but are too timid to walk around an urban neighborhood because they're afraid a stranger might try to start a conversation with them!

[@Maximilian1990]

Did you enjoy immigrants exploring all of your places

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

​@@zoushaomenohuthey might be afraid the stranger will pull a gun on them and demand their wallet.

[@zoushaomenohu]

@adrianthoroughgood1191 Maybe. But like a lot of fears it's disproportionate to how often that actually happens. Another phantasm...

[@chriswilliamson9993]

​@@Maximilian1990 I doubt it. The previous poster was an immigrant to Budapest themselves.

[@natashatuskovichcoworking]

One of the quotes I learned navigating the world as a young vegetarian was "It's easy to wake someone who's sleeping, but no amount of noise will wake someone who's pretending to be asleep."

[@alexdiaz4296]

dammmnnnnn, im using this 4sure.

[@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus]

It's not that they're asleep, it's that they find you annoying, and are ignoring you while they get on with their lives.

[@alexdiaz4296]

@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus fake egotistical maniacs I guess find truth annoying OH WELL nothing new since the existence of evil.

[@asdfghyter]

@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus a.k.a. pretending to be asleep

[@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus]

@@asdfghyter Yes. Thank-you, I meant to type that.

[@nickklavdianos5136]

I grew up in a small town of rural Greece and the experience was: The school was at the completely opposite side of the town from my house, and I walked 15 minutes to and from it. Everything within the town was easily reachable by walking or biking, but if you wanted to go literally anywhere else, you had to take a car (potentially bike too but that could be dangerous). My dad had to drive me for years to the next town over for my basketball practice. The things you can do and places you can go within your close vicinity are extremely limited. There are about three cafeterias, two bars, three restaurants and a pizzeria. That's all. Growing up in such a place, is both good and bad. The good is that it was pretty safe, so our parents let us unsupervised from a fairly young age. Since we were about 7-8 years old we biked all around the place, we run through the fields, we played the wildest hide and seek all around the neighborhood, and we went to play football at the local football field. But as you get older, the place becomes more and more limiting. There are only a few kids your age, so if you don't really fit in with them, tough luck, you're alone. I was lucky enough to have three great friends, but I always felt disconnected with the other kids my age after I turned 14. The whole thing really f*ed up my social life.

[@98Zai]

I can relate, as will most people who grew up rurally. It was an amazing childhood, but it's very common to move to a bigger city once you finish school. Urbanization.

[@francodigennaro1236]

this is also the average experience of a kid growing up in a small city with a town soul, what might be great for parenting and later ages of adulthood turns all the more limiting to a kid growing into adolescence and later young adults. either the town grows (aka sells itself to external capital and entrepreneuring) or you are kind of forced to move cities to live a fulfilling life

[@maschaorsomething]

Oh my god, it's like I could have written this comment!!! And I was single for most of my life because everyone in this small town knew me from when I was an unmasking autistic child and avoided me at all costs. It took me downloading a dating app to suddenly realize that many of the bigger city folk wanted to talk to me, haha. I would have probably died alone if it weren't for technology, phew...

[@98Zai]

@@maschaorsomething Yeah, there's the downside of small towns. Be a little different and you get reminded every day. Kids are evil, especially rural kids for some reason. Their parents should remind them that they might spend the rest of their lives living next door to the kid they tormented...

[@noah4822]

america is like that but worse, you MIGHT grow up with a corner store/gas station within walking distance but for most suburbians thats it. no walking to school, or anywhere else. reliant on someone with a car.

[@SkySong6161]

I live right next to an area that saw *serious* gentrification hit it hard over the last four years. St. Petersburg FL used to have a really unique main street, lots of artists, musicians, outdoor bars/diners/small concert venues, nightlife, and unique specialty stores. Then 2020 happened, and massive amounts of people "discovered" FL in their attempts to get away from the lockdowns up north. And a lot of those folks moved to St. Pete, with its (comparatively, at the time) low cost of living, interesting neighborhoods, and cultural centers that took *decades* to develop by the people who lived there. Floridians *died of covid* so these yankees could be entertained because the governor refused to allow things to stay closed. Because most of Floridians were renters - art and music aren't known to pay very well - their landlords kicked them out to rent to people from NYC, LA, and Texas for 3x what the Floridians could afford. In less than five years, what took nearly 30 years to create was destroyed. The artists are gone. The independent shops have closed. Most of what survives down there are chain stores, restaurants, and increasingly empty and newly-constructed 5-above condos and apartment buildings among the tent cities that are making an earnest attempt to compete with the ones in LA. It has never been more expensive, dangerous, and soulless. By attempting to capture what made the area valuable, capital instead destroyed it.

[@eiriksundby]

I live in a 15 minute city in norway. As a student. it's pretty great honestly, as someone who doesn't have a car. This is especially convenient for health care. Although this town has been a 15 minute city for years and years due to its size, i dont think i know enough or have seen enough to really understand the potential problems that come with them, if there even are any, so i eagerly look forward to your next few videos along with how great this one was.

[@corsetedwasteland2630]

As someone who grew up in poverty in rural America, I can 100% confirm it's not the fantasy people can imagine it to be. Get hurt? The ambulance is 45 minutes or more away, the hospital a solid hour. Need something from the grocery store because you forgot something off your list? Half an hour drive one way or you just go without it until the next trip. When's the next trip? Probably in a few days but maybe next week, depends on your work schedule. If you work late you're out of luck. Most stores/business close around 5:30-6:00pm unless it's a Mom and Pop place...then they close whenever they want. It has it's benefits sure, but it also has more drawbacks than people think. Edit: Just for clarification, the "town" I grew up in has a current total population of 1,217. Growing up in the 90s it was 1,032, so when I say rural I mean it. It was probably 10-15 years behind the rest of the nation. One gas station, one grocery store, no red light (just a stop sign), 5 churches and a post office... Everyone used to joke that if you blinked driving through it, you'd miss it. Everything closed by 6, nothing was open on Sundays and it really was as backwoods, redneck, country bumpkin as movies make small towns out to be. Not sure if much has changed, I left the day I turned 18 and haven't been back in years. I imagine it's probably pretty close to the same.

[@verybarebones]

And as someone who grew up in poverty in an european walkable city i promise you it isnt fun. Enjoy breathing truck fumes with a view to a wall idek why americans fantasize about it so much. THe rich tourist experience isnt city living.

[@austinhernandez2716]

Where do you live? That's not how it is everywhere. I'm here in the southeast US rural area and the grocery stores do NOT close that early.

[@austinhernandez2716]

​@@verybarebonesWell in America your life would have been 10 times harder. As a European you were very privileged.

[@cariandi]

@@austinhernandez2716 Same, I am also in the poorer rural South USA and no grocery store I have ever been to closes anywhere near that early lmao. It's more like 10pm. Ambulances are also rarely "45 minutes away" because we have volunteer fire departments out here and they are our first responders to medical calls. The medical vehicles rotate to different people's houses depending on who is available to be on call at that moment.

[@almisami]

In urban America it's still 45 minutes away, though, but because of traffic.

[@stargazerbird]

I lived in the countryside in England all my life until nine years ago. Then we moved to Singapore, which is more like a fifteen minute country. I could get anywhere, countryside, the coast, nature parks and all the shopping you could desire, all a ten minute walk to the MRT away via covered walkways well lit. Even closer was a bus right outside our flats. Taxis are cheap and plentiful. Life was full and you get the feeling the whole country participates in events and both the slummier and the extra glitzy side of the culture. I used to hate cities and now I love them. We moved back to the uk this year, ironically near Oxford and I am slowly going mad because there is f all to do here unless you drive for a hour. Traffic going into Oxford is and has been insane for decades and just got worse as they closed a whole major route in for road works that will last three years. The potholes are making driving downright dangerous. To live in walking distance of the good stuff in Oxford you have to be very wealthy. The rich live here to get the train into London and once great houses in North Oxford are offices. Students at least get to be closer in but you see fewer bikes than we used to so I guess a lot have to move further out and bus in. I went into Oxford to see a show recently and the streets are dead. No crowds, dark as the inside of a cave, depressing, shops closed. I know the cold and rain are a factor but it’s not the whole reason. I think everyone just stays home now because anything else is expensive and time consuming. If ever a city needed the fifteen minute planning it is here. Send help.

[@andresgarciacastro1783]

But... but but... 15 minutes cities is an idea of the jews who want to eat your babies

[@obsidianjane4413]

Singapore is a high density city-state because it was an imperialist colonial enclave. It is a country crammed into a city. It exists because it has strong economic incentives and production. Oxford, UK is a post industrial wasteland. There are plenty of not-super-dense mid to small cities that have plenty of opportunity. In order to get that density "unnaturally" will require Stalinesque authoritarianism that will trample the fuck out of your personal freedoms, and finances. There is no free lunch, not even in the big city. Careful what you ask for.

[@Nick-kb6jd]

80% of Singaporean housing is built by the state.

[@tinselstar]

Wish I could help but I can send sympathies and commiseration as I'm in Australia and completely get it.

[@edvelociraptor1794]

​@@obsidianjane4413which freedoms in particular?

[@robertwilson973]

"My family was lucky." That really struck me as true. I grew up in suburbia as well, however my parents bought several acres of farmland when they first moved in, and as others moved in to escape the city, my family sold their acres of land to developers. My parents raised my brother and I with an understanding that we were lucky, and to always give back to others.

[@MichiruEll]

I live in what is pretty close to a 15 minute city mostly because of it being a small city (as in, you can cross the whole city on foot in an hour). We have public transportation, bike lanes, small grocery stores everywhere, many schools, office buildings and businesses mixes with apartment buildings and old single-family homes. I feel very free here. Whenever I visit my inlaws who live in suburbia in a US city with the same number of people as my city, I always feel so trapped. My in laws live at a 30 minute walk from the nearest grocery store (and it's along a 6 lane road with no shade). There is not a single thing to do that is less than a 40 minute walk away. There is no public transportation watsoever. It is nightmarish to me. I do not have a car, I cannot drive, if I am in suburbia I have no escape. Now that is what I call terrifying.

[@njdevilku1340]

I'd be curious. What are the 2 locations?

[@freazeezy]

I never understood why the suburbs where the setting for so many horror films till I lived in a real suburb myself. I felt completely trapped and isolated and I'd love in a 'dog kennel' sized, uninsulated apartment before living in one of those suburbs again.

[@danilooliveira6580]

I also live in an almost 15 minute city, but I live in a metropolis. the reason it looks like a 15 min city is because it was allowed to grow organically. suburbia is not what people want, it was manufactured. I don't want to sound like a libertarian, but if you allow development to grow organically, it will look like a 15 minute city.

[@gmannn-yd8ie]

@@danilooliveira6580All cities were designed like a 15 minute city. It just makes sense to design cities for the pedestrian. Suburbia is the opposite of a normal city, it is not designed for the human and they waste tons of space. Suburbs rely on new developments and infinite growth more than they do maintaining what they already have, their growth sort of resembles a cancer more than an actual city.

[@MichiruEll]

​@@njdevilku1340the two places are Fribourg, Switzerland and Doylestown (township), Pennsylvania. Looking it up, Doylestown apparently has a bit less population (but it's difficult to figure out because the way Doylestown is cut into multiple independent zones is rather mysterious to me).

[@PreciousEyeballs]

16:37 From the Philippines. We actually don't have much manufacturing here, if at all, since the overhead here is higher than neighboring countries. We just survive by taking your complaint calls and sending you our nurses (while we don't have enough nurses to take care of us btw.) 🇵🇭

[@OllamhDrab]

I occasionally end up with parts and machined items from there, seems like they've been doing a pretty good job on what there is lately. :) If things get a reputation for good quality, it really helps, something the US forgot in its binge of outsourcing industry.

[@PreciousEyeballs]

@lif6737 We don't get a lot of products made in the Philippines here in the Philippines. Majority of the stuff available are made in China or elsewhere. My theory is that we can't afford them, perhaps they're being sold at a higher price point that the normal Filipino can't afford, so they don't even bother selling them here. 🤷

[@toni2918]

@lif6737I watched a video that said some of the stuff marked as “made in…” most countries in South Asia are really just made in China, but shipped to said country and assembled or finished there so they can legally bear the “made in Philippines” tag.

[@charlenebaganzmoore]

As someone who lives in the countryside, it is not easy. We have expensive housing with very little employment opportunities. Where I live has been flooded, so personal and public transport suffered. We don't have adequate GP surgeries or pharmacies. We don't even have our own police office, we get them from the city nearby and we have many who need drug or mental health assistance. Add to this we need our own fire station but we cannot have it due to financial circumstances. Our schools (3) are listed as deprived and many of us are on support in food and vouchers. This is your glorious countryside.

[@Boardwoards]

is any of that due to living in the country side or under societal order? the massive conflation that serves the abusers narrative which she bought and sold to us is that trying to escape societal order and find communal relation means seeking lower counts of people (instinctually you know it makes it easier to communicate uncorrupted... unless you all have phones... so yeah the country side isn't a way out of societal order and cities with things like phones and the internet can surpass the dunbar number... until the communication gets corrupted i wonder if there's like a job about doing that.... like a philosopher)

[@charlenebaganzmoore]

@@Boardwoards Due to living in the middle of nowhere. Certain organisations find it not profitable to set up here. Boots felt people hadn't bought enough high end goods to stay, however they had the methidone contract (because it paid well) and most of the people at local GPs on the book. We would have needed the expensive foundations, lipsticks etc to have been worth saving. Well paying jobs require us to have cars or use public transport however our services are sparse as older people are (quite rightly) free so they make little profit. This is what the south west rural life is like. Even supermarkets are less interested because we aren't likely to buy food that is massively profitable.

[@wallacewizard3934]

Im going to school to get a degree in urban and regional planning. I feel so seen. I could cry. Im so glad that Not Just Bikes exists and enough people watch his output that he can do what he does full time. Im so glad you chose to tackle this topic. My oy hope is that these discussions get pushed further into the mainstream.

[@frocktopus9429]

The phantasm explanation explains why so many people )(usually strangers, always people who don’t know my medical history) come up to me (visibly disabled) and tell me to stop taking mental health medication (I’m not on any, and there’s no meds for my physical disabilities that work, so I’m usually not on ANY medication) then keep arguing with me I am not really disabled (I have visibly withered legs, they can see that even through clothes) and it is antidepressants (which again, I do not take) mind controlling me to think I am disabled, so that I use more meds, so that I pay “big pharma.” And bringing the conversation round again and again to telling me to stop my meds, they never say they don’t believe me when I say I am not on any, they tend to say “oh that’s good then” kind of sentiments, then instantly start up again with a “but stop those meds “ it is infuriating and happens semi regularly. The funniest thing is EVERY SINGLE TIME I have had this argument, I have asked them if they take any medicine, and it has always been more than me.

[@frocktopus9429]

Similar to the family friend who heard my dad had passed away, and started telling me to stand out of my whelechair, because it is just grief and I can walk if I accept that, and argued ill we were blue in the face, that it was still grieving my dad that caused me to be disabled even, when I told them I’d been disabled a decade at that time of my dads death.

[@jeremywvarietyofviewpoints3104]

They need to take meds🤣.

[@jamesnomos8472]

Wow that's a flavour of fucked up delusion I had never anticipated.

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

That's nothing. I've seen people arguing that HIV and AIDS are not really a thing. That's scary. They not only gaslight those sick people (because it really feels like gaslighting, trying to "convince" that you're not disabled) but also encourage them to spread the disease To a certain extent I understand. It would be great to live in a world where you can just overcome your limitations. But we live in a reality. We have to find happines where it is possible, not in a delusion

[@Maximilian1990]

You sound like you really did stop taking your meds

[@Wifetime]

I grew up in the countryside of midwest America. Here are some highlights: -The only local hospital had a reputation so bad that me and my wife had to talk about what types of health issues we would have to be suffering from to justify using that hospital and not the slightly less abysmal one that was and hour and a half drive away. -The running water in my parents home that comes from their well is full of rust. It adds a nasty red tint to every article of clothing, our fingernails, the shower curtain, and every sink in the house. When combined with coffee it would turn our nails black. When we would go to the lake for family vacations, the combination of the sunblock we put on our bodies and the different water that our bodies/clothes would be exposed too, caused the rust that was on our skin to bleed off on to our clothes in an extremely obvious way. Basically, I would have big orange stains appear on my bathing suit out of nowhere. Also, we could not drink it, obviously, so we had to fill up five gallon jugs once a week to serve as drinking/cooking water. -The smell of cow shit. Everywhere. -The dust storms that would kick up for hours on a windy day. -Every local tradesman was questionable at best and outright conniving at worst. -Barely a local economy to speak of. Every time I go back to visit another business has closed down. -The local college is corrupt to the core. -The local police was corrupt to the core and answers to no one because every lawyer and judge was also corrupt. -Entertainment was limited. The most fun I ever had was driving to the closest “city” that was an hour and a half away to see a movie and go to a different restaurant than the 5 we had at home. Most of the time the reason we would go to this “city” was for my mom to take me to doctor/dentist appointments because she didn’t want to take me to any of the ones in town. -My graduating class was about 28 kids. It is a nightmare to know every single one of your classmates on an intimate level because you spent about 7+ years with them. Also every school in the area had abysmal funding and prioritized sports above most extracurricular activities.

[@jeans4460]

So much clicked for me in the discussion of isolation and gen Z. The affordability crisis in housing and other amenities combined with car dependence make it feel hardly worth going out anywhere to meet people and MAYBE have a good experience (but probably not because years of living isolated mean I have zero social skills and easily overstimulated when interacting with a lot of people). I moved to a new city recently and many people my age talk about struggling to get out enough even though much of the places around here are very walkable and we have a good bus system. It’s unsurprising though as rents are going up sharply this year, most people I know lease from a real estate company rather than an individual landlord, and more corporations are moving their offices to this area.

[@fluidthought42]

Part of the struggle for affordability is ensuring that newer, denser development is not concentrated just in one area. The reason why NYC is so expensive is because it's surrounded by places like Staten Island that are absolute suburban projects that abhor denser development. This is why I personally prefer state level policies, that way we can override local NIMBY opposition.

[@BlankRami]

I FELT it when you said that people are committed to ignorance. I struggle with it in my immediate family. People don't listen, they lecture and not everybody likes a culture of debate and disagreeing. I usually get cut off, I get silenced by people's loud, insecure and rude 'HAH... I DESTROYED YOU' sort of tone. I don't want to destroy people, I want to build a society with them but most take advantage of my willingness to listen and assume that they 'got me' and then they feel bad and give me a condescending caress of kindness like 'NAWW champ don't be sad, you lack confidence which is why you didn't win'. I'm like really? I'm not sad or unconfident I am angry because I am wasting my time in trying to prevent you from voting against your interests. Then I stop caring and commit to my thing and then they get upset and say why I don't talk anymore and whether if I am a crybaby from that time when they 'destroyed me' and so on. I can't even convince my family, why the hell should I try convincing a whole damn society which loves shooting itself in the foot? Which leads to the thing you said about selective communication. I am grateful that you summed it up to one word which is 'Phantasm'.

[@PanzarInthelake]

send them videos. I managed to convince 5 of my relatives to vote conservative by just sending them videos from libs of tik tok and end wokeness . Short and effective. just last month they convinced two of their neighbors of voting red after they showed them a sad video about Laken Reilly . ( the mother lost her sister because of a thief who broke into their home before coming to America. and her sister was almost as old as Laken Reilly sooo)

[@JustaNotherguy-pd7pw]

@@PanzarInthelakeWow! I showed my apolitical relatives fear-mongering propaganda, and guess what! The propaganda did what it was supposed to! Jokes aside, you suck.

[@JamesBond77]

You got destroyed a lot it seems.🤣

[@gabestew262]

The idea of rural living is so skewed in the US. as recent as the 1980s there were unincorporated mining towns or farming towns with economies so poor that you were more likely to die there than ever leave. Today I live near one of the agicultural centers of the US, and its home to a massive number of financial corporations and agricultural government test sites. For as "rural" as the area is, the local college focuses heavily on STEM fields, like robotic agriculture, architecture, etc. Most of the graduates end up working for the government in some way. If you live there, youre probably driving 45 minutes minimum to reach a doctor, or a bank or a grocery store. A huge number of illegal immigrants come here for work, and end up becoming exploited farmhands working for extremely low wages. It's a hard life, and most of it is covered in suburban sprawl. I commonly see kids as young as 9 years old sprint across four lanes of traffic because there arent any crosswalks for half a mile. its messed up

[@lostalone9320]

Ah yes, so messed up to see children crossing the road, as opposed to stabbing each other or being molested on the subway 👍

[@RoronoaZorosHaki]

Virginia tech?

[@homuraakemithehero7707]

The rural area to suburban you need to drive 20-30 minutes minimum to get anywhere barrier… Living in a rural area with a heavy military base presence you either struggle with low pay at min wage jobs nearby/ try to get in STEM and commute if online isn’t open/ or you join up with the army and then commute + sit in massive traffic at least an hour of your day as everyone’s shift section seems to starts and end the same time

[@mightbeafrog]

Damn, Abi is out there snapping up all the good grindr profile names

[@do0mageddon-j8l]

Exposed Brick is a great one lmao.

[@Pallerim]

That "but I repeat myself" was so simple and off-handed yet powerful af

[@heffatheanimal2200]

Ohhh yeah. My metaphorical double take gave me figurative whiplash

[@arowace498]

I was looking for a comment about it! I love her writing so much

[@dominicwalsh3888]

Also brilliant comedic timing, as always. Spat my coffee. But, yeah, the message...

[@thoughtsofelizabeth]

Agreed.

[@derpherpblerp]

Same, I had the "AHA I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE" moment

[@kerycktotebag8164]

My favorite quote for critically supporting 15-min cities is "If your barista can't afford to live there, it's not a 15-min city, it's an amusement park." i wish my city were like that (the laborers-can-afford-it variety).

[@TheoEvian]

The phantasm thing at the end nicely illustrates one thing: to borrow a popular saying, "feelings don't care about facts". And that goes for almost everybody. The difference between different people is however in the quality of the feelings.

[@thinwhitemook8314]

I think there are a lot of people who are not aware of or just have really unhealthy relationships with their emotions. I've seen folks try to be cold and logical and all they do is become unaware of how their emotions effect them. And I've seen people fall into actual cults because you don't have to be dumb to be manipulated, you just have to be desperate and someone has to be willing to take advantage of that.

[@FaryaWolyo_]

@@thinwhitemook8314Well said, I fell into the former category for a long time as a personal endeavor and coping mechanism. However, I've been making an effort to exercise more acceptance for myself, and subsequently, my emotions- as difficult as they can be to recognize.

[@noisemaker0129]

I think she really missed a lot of points with the phantasm argument, making it about personal psychology instead of class issues. Naomi Klein dealt with this really well in her latest book, which should have been mentioned in this video

[@MinesAGuinness]

@@thinwhitemook8314 Aye, I tried that stoical 'be rational, suppress your emotions' approach for 48 years - ironically as a defence reaction to the people around me who were in thrall to their own antisocial phantasms and who I thought I couldn't survive around without finding the right logical argument, like a game of chess. In fact, it just meant that every interaction with people left me wounded and feeling alone, with a sense of alienation from society and hopelessness about meaningful social change. In the past two years, I've devoted much effort into strategies from mindfulness to life coaching and compassionate inquiry to build up my self-esteem and emotional recognition. Now, I can better apply that intellect constructively to problems and to people with self-confidence built from within, and also have some insight into the emotions of those who might not see things as I do. It's the best of both worlds!

[@MinesAGuinness]

@@noisemaker0129 No, it was rather clear that it was about class issues, because they were mentioned from the beginning to the end of the essay. Abigail was enlarging your understanding by explaining the manner in which individual human beings - because even we died-in-the-wool socialists aren't a monolithic unit moving in tandem to unseen forces - are manipulated into accepting and defending such phantasms about class and race... from where they are recruited into political movements that use them to attack other elements of society with whom they might otherwise make common cause. If you read through the comments, you will be heartened to discover many who are directly relating the concepts discussed to inequality and the power imbalances of the world, and the rise of demagogues who have known for a very long time exactly how to twist a message to create phantasms to ensnare millions: as Naomi Klein would describe, wait for a social or economic crisis that drives people to desperation, tell them to blame a group they can be convinced is different to them or getting preferential treatment (usually illusory) and then use their support to push through policies which make the demagogues money through the free market.

[@Sc0r_Media]

I'm really glad you brought up the concept of first, second, and third spaces. For third spaces, socializing spaces, I was unconciously thinking all my life that I can't go out because "I don't have money to spend" and spent more of my time online as I grew up, and as an adult. I never really stopped to think how it's profoundly affected my social life, thinking that this was perfectly normal for someone who doesn't have extra money to spend, until my older god mother started telling me that it's "not the same". Which got me thinking "Why is it not the same? It feels like socializing to me." around the same time your video came out, and puts those comments she made into perspective. Now, that isn't to say that I'm suddenly against hanging out online. In fact, it really drove home for me how meaningful all my online friendships have been, since I never would have met 90% of the people I know if I wasn't here. I guess while I'm pretty happy with where I am now, it does reiterate that being pushed farther and farther away from public spaces by capitalistic forces has been going on all my life. Hopefully I can keep that in mind and not auto-cancel plans under certain circumstances like I always do without thinking it through first.

[@Itomon]

Its totally fine to have a virtual social life, but it is messed up that for many the option of social places is gatekept by money (or the lack of) this is not democratic, and most important of all, its not /freedom/

[@Spooky_Magooky]

Personally the section of third spaces got me really emotional, it's a reality I live every day. Sure I have my online connections but as someone who grew up in in-person social spaces and long for that kind of connection again it just makes it so transparent how just meeting up is a challenge. A challenge that compounds as the loneliness and poor mental health our generation faces rips away motivation making getting the opportunity to spend time together even harder. I have a lot of people I value that I barely get to see, and my ability to get out and stretch my wings, meet new people and have new experiences and encounters is narrowed. There's just not much nearby and I'm too bogged down.

[@JuliaEDahlgren]

​@@Spooky_Magookythis! I too am grateful for my online ways of connecting with friends, but if I spend an afternoon with friends in-person, I get a tangible "there is beauty in the world for those who choose to see it" kind of buzz. And that just never happens when I hang out with friends online. My covid depression really highlighted that. I mourn for all the younger (and poorer) people who have more obstacles to accessing third spaces and might never know the difference - if it were me, I'd probably just accept depression as my default, which is horrifying. Now, I might miss in-person social interactions for the same reasons you mention, but at least I know that a better lifestyle is possible.

[@mollusckscramp4124]

I remember growing up watching shows like Boy Meets World and Sister Sister, always being inundated with all these media examples of how teens would go hang out at the their local mall, their skatepark, or local slam poetry cafe. There was always a "hangout". By the time we came up I noticed a distinct lack of places for me and friends my age. All the malls were gutted and going out of business, all the skateparks had been bulldozed for lofts, all the reading-cafes bought out by Starbucks franchises. I got to the point of defeat where I basically just accepted that having a "hangout spot" and the culture of it was something that died out long ago with the X-er gen, and we had all been unfortunate enough to miss the bus. The closest thing that I think to compare to the feeling of loss I felt of that crucial developmental milestone we'd been promised is how I imagine a lot of kids who were still in grade school at the time of the pandemic must have felt when they lost nearly 2 years of what should have been some of their most crucial social bonding experiences to the quarantine. You don't get those moments back, but their absence sticks with you.

[@Elaiden]

I totally agree, just reminding that online communities are also gate kept by money though. Some more than others. You need to pay for access to the internet, and buy the device to access the internet. Many online communities are behind more paywalls, such as games.

[@DementedDemons]

Honestly really dope to see a collab with NotJustBikes, and your captioning is S tier.

[@Rubberly]

The gasmask drone shirt, the flashback to a video rocking rubber. We love how you represent our community while conveying some really solid info!

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

I once lived in rural Kentucky. My acne became so bad that my face is mostly scar tissue. Folks do not believe I was once modeling in my younger years. My asthma was so bad I needed expensive medication and charity medication (due to low wages). I also got sick from drinking water. Could not walk safely. Air smelled of detritus from the Daniel Boone National Forest (acres leased to agribusiness which is different from national parks which are for preservation) I moved to Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota and my health improved greatly. Acne down. No asthma. And plenty of healthy drinking water. I can walk from one side of Saint Paul to the opposite side of Minneapolis. Despite traffic congestion, the air is cleaner - no detritus from a national forest like in KY. I may not like how fake and disengaged folks in MN are, but my life improved. I am also no longer dependent on social programs as often. The only folks who thrive in a rural area are those with the right last name. I have encountered families from both urban and rural areas. Those in urban areas spawn generations who pretty much keep the same class as their parents. But the well-to-do from rural areas, I have noticed, spawn subsequent generations who quantum leap to bigger success than even those from urban areas.

[@eustatic3832]

Escape the Plantation

[@nvelsen1975]

Sounds like you've got some pretty bad sensitivities to forest environments. They never did an allergy test on you where they make a series on tiny cuts on your arm, rub them with extracts from various plants and see what causes you to react?

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

@@nvelsen1975 nope

[@nvelsen1975]

@@DCMarvelMultiverse Well they probably should have. Even if it turned out to be several plants that make it impossible to stay there at all, you'd have been informed before moving anywhere else. Especially if it's multiple plants there's a risk that by moving to another ecosystem you just jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

[@timmysmith9991]

I live in Kentucky. Looking at the ownership records of most kentucky land, the rural counties are owned by mostly foreign corporations. Dutch, German, French, UK, Japanese, etc. Something close to 60%+ is corporate owned - foreign or domestic. Maybe 25% if lucky is actually owned by local KY people. It is all straight up psychotic

[@jeffafa3096]

My take on urban planning: Roads and public transport have a function to take a person from point A to point B. Whether that's work, friends, school or the supermarket, that doesn't matter. People get drawn to places who can provide these accommodations, so instead of making these places exclusive to wealthier individuals, urban planning should focus on allowing everyone to access all sorts of facilities and modes of intercity transport. This leads to smaller community hubs in every neighbourhood, and here's why I think this is a good thing: In The Netherlands, new urban areas are planned on the idea of a "liveable neighbourhood", meaning that it's not just re-designing a street or two, but looking at the entire area of the town or city you are developing: Are there parks, hairdressers, supermarkets, dentists and doctors nearby? Is it easy to reach major transportation hubs (like train stations) from your current location? The size of your house matters to a certain degree, but what matters more is accessibility to a good and healthy life for you and your family, regardless of where you live in the neighborhood. This leads to some areas having cheap rental apartments and other areas having mansions within the same neighbourhood. But at the same time these people will meet at the local hairdresser, in the local café or supermarket, or in the parks between the houses while walking your dog. It improves the diversity in the neighbourhood and the purpose of destination as well, meaning that these small community hubs provide a destination for residents in the direct vicinity, so you can think of different modes of transport, like a bicycle instead of a car. It will also create a feeling of mutual understanding, without feeling disdain or jealousy towards the other people in your area (because you both have access to the same facilities), making any neighbourhood only as bad as its inhabitants. It is also a myth that people want to live in a bigger house. Many elderly are actually willing to live in a smaller residence, if it is a pleasant environment for them to live in. Research showed that at least 60% of people aged 55+ in The Netherlands was willing to live in a smaller residence, but the lack of available, comfortable living spaces and good services nearby prevents them from doing so. We don't need more suburbia, we need more liveable neighbourhoods...

[@AnAngryRedGummyBear]

On the other hand, focus on exclusion increases from those with wealth when perceptions of drugs, crime and violence increase. So this problem is going to get worse, and the prices of the luxury condos will continue to increase until people stop overpaying for them. The idea that running into people is a positive thing is easy in an abstract world, but when you're running into people drugged out and leaned over on a sidewalk, its easy to see why there is an effort at exclusion. This escalation of exclusion isn't happening in a vacuum or for irrational reasons. You might not LIKE the reasons, but there are reasons. It might not be good for society as a whole, but its going to happen so long as the incentive structures remain in place for it. And no, saying "We're gonna legislate you need to live next to the drug addicts!" doesn't work, because people with money will just walk away from the property and go be in an exclusive club someplace else.. Solve the drugs, solve the violence, solve the crime, people will move into more inclusive areas for the reasons you highlight.

[@jamalgibson8139]

On the bigger house idea, I fully agree that it's very overrated. My house is fairly large, on a moderate sized lot, and I honestly kind of hate it. I'd much rather have a tiny lot with parks and amenities that I can walk to nearby. Unfortunately, that just doesn't exist near me, or if it does, is 3x the price.

[@blackoak4978]

In my experience it doesn't matter what is better for everyone. We live in a capitalist world. As long as developers and landlords make more money by pandering to wealthier expectations then that's what they will do. If you want that to change then you will need a government that will regulate developments for the good of the public. For that, you will need to get rid of corporatists and neoliberals from government and elect socially responsible people with a backbone in their place. The biggest problem in this area is that the corporate right wingers get confident before they get informed(which is never) and socially responsible left wingers get confident about a decade after they're done. So right wingers look strong and confident in everything they do while being competent at none of it While socially responsible left wingers look weak, and are so bad at leadership that even when they win they loose the plot trying to accommodate every single person's opinion. Left wingers need to run on what the average person needs. Follow through on their promises and spit in the face of anyone that tries to derail them

[@codemonster8443]

30:35 You know what? When I was new to the channel and KZbin would recommend me all your vids from all periods of time, I did think that you and your brother presented the show together :D It took me like 4 vids to realize that you guys don't present them together, kinda like a vlog brothers deal And about 7 vids down I realized what had... hehe... _transpired_

[@orphax1925]

imagine discovering PhilosophyTube just now even after years of sailing throught the youtube seas and being called a youtube librarian, what a find oh my god THIS IS A GOLD MINE !! thanks for ruining my social life and sleep schedule for the next few weeks it will be AWESOME 🥰

[@daisybeam3357]

lol hope you're having fun

[@danhandel8256]

One really important thing to remember about gentrification is that it can occur without the construction of any luxury flats. Take my city, San Francisco, for example. Since the 1970's there has been an incredibly slow pace of development in the city. As a result, the number of available houses has gone up a little bit while the number of people wanting a house has skyrocketed. The result was that almost the entire lower class as well and parts of the middle class have been completely gentrified out of the city. It is now quite common for people making over $100,000 a year to live with roommates just to be able to afford to live somewhere near their workspaces. Residential height restrictions as well as a byzantine permit process that favors property owners have made much of the city I live financially impossible to live in. SO gentrification is not simply the construction of new housing in an affordable neighborhood but the deliberate revaluing of a neighborhood to exclude it's poorest members.

[@emmacardwell8275]

Are you sure that planning is the reason for this? Cities all over the world are becoming unaffordable, regardless of their planning regimes. @garyseconomics made a good video about this.

[@tealkerberus748]

@@emmacardwell8275 Planning is a large part of making housing unaffordable. There's a very strong economic pressure to have housing values continue to go up, and not building enough housing is the easy way to achieve that. The real housing affordability problem is that wages haven't gone up to match housing values. If they had, people who need housing would have enough money behind them collectively that the planning authorities would make it happen.

[@citrustaco]

That is not gentrification, but rather supply and demand. Despite all the bad things Republicans will tell you about San Francisco, it is still a great and desirable city to live in. So much so that there's a lot of competition. And people have lots of money. So even if you did save up for a house in San Francisco, there may be 50 other bids on it, outbidding you. It may be impossible for you to live there, yet many of available units are occupied or will be occupied soon. So some people are able to afford it, enough that it's pushing other people out. Maybe one day, they'll push everyone out the Tenderloin. I've heard that they've been trying to increase the value of Hunters Point.

[@danhandel8256]

@@citrustaco what happens to price if supply stays the same but demand continues to rise with immigration and population growth? Are the people making minimum wage in San Francisco supposed to just be homeless? Do we need to explain economics to them? Or do we just need to build more homes?

[@rustyshackleford4117]

San Francisco is probably the first of the cities which is now starting to undergo de-gentrification, thanks all in part to an excessively growing homeless population and lack of regulation alongside with dissolution of policing activities, in which whole parts of what used to be nicer areas have now become no-man's lands, and as a result property values are actually starting to go down for once. It used to be a cool city, but it's gotten pretty bad in recent years and definitely hasn't recovered since COVID in the same way most other large cities have.

[@clairemontgomery6908]

I loved the video. I hope the next video covers not just how to get other people to escape a phantasm, but how to recognize when we are employing phantasms and how to avoid falling into them.

[@dmarkiwsky]

I work for my local municipality in Canada, which is currently (1) experiencing a large tax increase partly resulting from years of suburban development whose costs were kicked down the road, (2) considering a new "public spaces" bylaw that will push homeless and disadvantaged people out of many public spaces, (3) tearing down homeless encampments, and (4) having protests about 15-min city development plans. So this video was quite topical and is going to be a great resource to share with people who need some education on the broader context of these issues.

[@markmayberry5459]

I can't help but imagine Abigail @Philophy Tube making all of her amazing arguments *on the floor of parliament* but with a costume and makeup team right there with her. That would be the most watched television of all time

[@GavinMichaels]

50:49 "This is an amazon recommendation algorithm for radicalization. It's function is to build a political coalition by loosening your grip on reality one fingernail at a time. And if it made sense it would be LESS EFFECTIVE AT DOING THAT." DAMN. What a bar. And terrifying.

[@psychoedge]

I am not going to comment on the outstanding content but on something else: I'm not a native English speaker, and though I'm admittedly decently fluent in English, you really really manage to make complex topics easy to understand. Your pace and clear pronounciation when talking are in a sweet spot and it feels like I'm listening to someone explaining these topics to me in my native language. So a big thank you in this regard! P.S. the second "that's my grindr name" took me out :D

[@f.jansen9879]

Same!

[@longbow857]

Interesting. As a non native myself I find of all the Philosophy channels I watch this one to be the hardest to follow. Somehow the flow doesn't work for me and I far rather have little visual stimulation helping the explanation like with the not just bikes segment. It should be about the subject and not about how someone wants to express themselves.

[@GiantPetRat]

I'm a native English speaker, but one of my favorite things about the design of this channel is that new videos immediately come with subtitles. This is also ideal for people with hearing loss or processising disorders.

[@sleepingkirby]

32:38 Former Seattle resident here. The reason why that person said that is that homeless people, particularly in the US, as the video said, have no good way to dispose of trash and waste. And, if they tried, they're often hassled and/or arrested by the police. It's even often a metric used by the public in general to judge the cleanliness of a city. Not just by citizens but by public officials. You can say "There's a problem with waste collection." but a) that's long and dives into a rabbit hole of... well... a lot that most Americans consider "political" and, therefore, not polite to bring up in dinner conversation, b) people in the US usually, reflexively, lean towards the "Do enough so we don't see the problem." path of dealing with problems instead of the "let's solve the problem once and for all" path.

[@bentpen2805]

YES! It is so unbelievably disheartening how many people (perhaps more subconsciously than wittingly) think that a problem only exists to the extent that they see it in their day-to-day lives. This is why they think bus their homeless populations out of the town. And I also think it’s why the news is so festered with recycled crime reporting, to give the viewers the sensation that crime is a growing problem when it is in fact the lowest it’s been in decades.

[@gerrittlighthart]

"a) that's long and dives into a rabbit hole of... well... a lot that most Americans consider "political"" Well, yeah, I think the issue is that we often subconsciously choose to see homelessness as a moral failing rather than the result of political choices.

[@sleepingkirby]

@tlighthart Well, I would argue that it's not political as it is social. As in, even if the politicians didn't enact such anti-homeless policies, the general public in the US will still see homelessness as a moral failing. I would also argue that, if there's a choice that's made, it's not subconscious.

[@Kyrielsh1]

@@gerrittlighthart Seems like a bad case of ultra-liberal views, where everything is seen only through the lens of "personal responsibility", which is actually slowly eating up the brain of pretty everyone on this planet... Sad thing is, I don't see it changing radically in the forseeable future, even though it leads to policies that actually keep on failing.

[@20storiesunder]

@@Kyrielsh1 I thought personal responsibility is more of a conservative belief, no? Liberals (here at least) are much more about understanding the why.

[@saffymae4761]

your voice is so lovely and soothing and the way you build sentences has an air of high class and upper education without being uppity and incomprehensible or abrasive. This is the first video of yours ive ever seen and i will be binging as much as i can. your work is great, im obsessed

[@mylittledashie7419]

I love that breadtube is even going so far as to start crediting the cameo voices they get to read out bits of text. Not just because it's kinda funny since Harry's video came out, but also because I genuinely do appreciate knowing who is talking.

[@siblinghoodsys]

that isn't really new

[@mylittledashie7419]

@@siblinghoodsys ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Pretty new to me. Like maybe the last 6 months or so? Prior to that you the uploader might have thanked them for voice overs during the end credits, but to have it actually there while they're speaking is, as far as I know, pretty new.

[@ItWasSaucerShaped]

stop calling progressive content 'breadtube' ffs

[@mylittledashie7419]

@@ItWasSaucerShaped Why not? It's a pretty common name.

[@razorwireclouds5708]

​@@ItWasSaucerShaped Stop whinging about every little thing. Besides, progressive essay content falls into the Breadtube category anyway.

[@rumplstiltztinkerstein]

42:24 I have to applaud this take here. It is essential for us to understand why so many people are so adamant in maintaining their views even if everything and everyone points against that view. This idea terrifies me. Here it is: Imagine reaching 50, 60, 70 years old. Then considering the possibility that everything we believed in for the vast majority of our lives was incorrect. The idea that most of the issues that we had to deal with was not because of others, but our own actions. Imagine having to accept the reality that we were absolutely wrong for the vast majority of our lives... I always try to see the point of view of others. I also always try to rethink my decisions and ideas. This is because I am terrified of the possibility of me reaching that conclusion at the final stages of my life.

[@mollusckscramp4124]

And you see it all the time too. If you go to any relationship advice or self-help video on youtube, at least one of the three top comments you see first is someone who is admittedly "Just figuring this out after 57 years of anxiety/denial/dysfunctional marriage and not wasting anymore time". And those are just the people who finally try to change. I totally empathize with your fear lol, I think about it all the time

[@solk.posner7201]

Damn, I love your outfits and diverse style through the video lol. You know, I was fortunate enough to live in Lima during my teens. Might not had the AC, drinkable tap water, the latest gadgets or a car, but I miss those simple days just going to a small bakery for fresh bread, hanging out with friends in some park after school (we'd disband before sun down, no need for parents to chauffeur us around) and interacting with the neighbors. I really felt more alive and free there than I ever did as a kid growing up in America

[@sailorplanetmars6103]

As someone who's also been working in education for about a decade, the resistance of some people to learn is definitely something that surprises me over and over again. I've never encountered the idea of a phantasm, but it's similar to a problem we often see in my field - I work in the forensic sciences, parallel to the justice system, and if you spend any amount of time in proximity to that you soon learn that a lot of people don't actually want justice - they just want to feel nice. It's interesting to put that in the lens of the phantasm - a way that people can transform "I feel safe and comfortable" to "justice has been delivered". I'm super excited to see where the next few entries go with this idea and to continue to learn more about it!

[@jessdawitch]

Thank you! I've been looking for the term "phantasm" for years off and on, but couldn't think of a way to phrase it that got me results. Instead I've been calling them "ablative beliefs", since the person deploying them usually doesn't care if the phantasm is debunked bullshit so long as a more precious underlying belief (their subjectivity) goes completely unreferenced, and stays safe.

[@lightningspectacular]

"... my brother?" 😂 love the new headcanon

[@johannageisel5390]

Has been my headcanon for a while now. Abi's brother moved to a remote place in South America to work as a teacher and she has taken over to continue his work here. And she's totally slaying it. :)

[@list738]

your speed of narration and the captions makes it so easy to follow and understand, especially for international viewers. thank you so much.